


RWBY: Stains of Apathy

by MrDoutei



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Backstory, Brother-Sister Relationships, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Fantasy, Gun Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Poor working conditions, Racism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 55,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27199789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrDoutei/pseuds/MrDoutei
Summary: It's the Countdown to the Fall of Beacon, and all the pieces are in place. The black pieces move at the command of their Queen. The white pieces heed the orders of their King. A neutral faction will be brought in to tip the scales, and from this grey faction will rise a Crimson Knight, fed up with just being another chess piece.
Relationships: Adam Taurus/ Raven Branwen, Adam Taurus/ Ruby Rose, Mercury Black/Emerald Sustrai, Pyrrha Nikos/Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee/Adam Taurus
Comments: 18
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

“What are you doing?!” came a furious shout from the courtyard of Beacon academy as the new filed in from the airships.

“Uh? I’m sorry,” responded the victim of this remonstrance, who was a young girl in a black and red dress and whose silver eyes were full of embarrassment; it didn’t help that she was on the floor amongst luggage either. “Sorry?” the admonisher, who was also a young girl, albeit a little older than the one on the floor, and whose graceful mannerisms even as she shouted seemed to be the opposite of the ditzy looking girl on the floor, responded even more angrily, “Do you have any idea how much damage you could have caused?”

“Uh…” the girl on the floor tries, and fails to form a sentence as she penitently hands over one of the fallen cases. “Give me that,” the other girl grabbed the suitcase from her and continued her remonstrance.

The heated interaction was creating quite the scene, was what one would say until they saw the rebuking girl explode, literally. It was a small explosion, but a comical one, at least it was to everyone except the girl whose white hair and dress were now blackened and singed. Giggling ensued amongst the spectating crowd, who were a safe distance away should another explosion occur, everyone tried to stifle theirs, but it was clearly there, a contained eruption that made the formerly white-haired admonisher explode once more; this time emotionally not chemically.

“Unbelievable,” she shouted angrily, her body quivering and her veins popping out, seemingly seconds away from an apoplexy, “This is exactly the thing I was talking about!”

“I’m really sorry,” the silver-eyed girl who had stood up at some point, twiddled her thumbs shamefully and looked down, trying to signal the earth to swallow her. “Sorry? You complete dolt!” Although the earth wasn’t taking any requests, and the white-haired girl wasn’t taking any apologies, as she continued to rain insult after insult angrily at her (A/N: Honestly, this seems to be her default setting, I’ll see if I can write in a new one. P.S, this is my first Author’s Note, it’s pretty cool.)

The silver-eyed girl had had enough of this; sure, she toppled her luggage, and blew her up, but she had apologized for both severally, _Enough already,_ she thought to herself as she opened her mouth in her bold rebuttal. “I said I was sorry Princess,” she responded timidly as she hugged her arm and avoided eye contact.

“It’s heiress actually,” came a female voice who emerged from the onlookers, she levelled her amber eyes at the pair almost lazily and coupled with the cute bow that laid atop her head, she looked like a cat-girl.

“Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Company, one of Remnant’s biggest dust-centred companies.” Came another voice, this one was male; he gave the opposite vibe of the girl who had arrived earlier, as he stood at about 190cm tall and his head was covered in a black cloth cowl that concealed his nose, eyes, and hair, although a few red locks peaked out close to his neck, all. The silver-eyed girl tried to retreat into the hood of her dress, embarrassed that more people were joining the drama. “Finally, some recognition,” the white-haired girl apparently called Weiss said, this time without her signature furious shouting.

“A company known for its questionable labour force and business partners,” he added deadpan. This left the heiress hemming and hawing in anger, until she waved her fist in some sort of threat and departed from the group. “I’m _really_ sorry,” the silver-eyed girl called out apologetically as Weiss left.

“Thank you both for that,” she said towards the two who had helped her out, except the cat-girl had made her exit and was nowhere to be found. “Don’t mention it,” the redhead that had stepped in later said aloofly as though it was nothing. “I'm Adam by the way,” he said while extending his hand, “Ruby, I-I'm Ruby.”

“Nice to meet you, Ruby.”

“Nice to meet you too,” she responded, although her gaze was not on his face. “Hey, my eyes are up here,” he said with a small chuckle.

“I'm sorry,” she said, embarrassed after she was caught staring, “It’s just, I'm really curious about your weapon.” “Oh you mean Nerium Thorn?” He asked as he held the hilt in his hand. “That’s its name? It’s so cool,” she said as she inched closer to it and drooled a bit, she looked up at the owner almost imploringly, “Could I touch it?”

“Maybe later, we still have to get over to orientation,” Adam said a bit uncomfortably. “Oh, that’s right, sorry.” The two walked towards the hall alongside each other, her having to pick up her pace to match his and him having to do the same to try and lose her. He didn’t get the opportunity to do so, not until the next day.

In the hall where all the new intakes would sleep in for the night, Ruby was still asking about his weapon. Relenting to her pestering, he pulled out his weapon; it was a side sword (spada da lato) of about 103 cm (4” 3in), with a pair of handgun grips held in place by a copper coloured coil that served as a crossguard. “Wow!” Ruby said as she analysed the blade with fangirl eyes.

It’s so light,” she observed, as she lifted the blade and weighted it with her hands.

“ “Okay, that’s enough,” Adam said awkwardly. “Yes, it is enough, people are trying to sleep.” The girl called Weiss said sternly, Ruby jumped behind Adam, with a catlike hiss on seeing the same antagonistic girl twice in one day.

“We apologize,” Adam said simply as he picked Ruby up by her scruff, “Don’t we Ruby?” The black-haired girl nodded positively while joining her hands together in apology. “O-okay then,” Weiss said surprisedly, as she was expecting either one of them to have some kind of snarky remark. “I’m Weiss Schnee,” she said as she outstretched her hand towards Adam, “But you already knew that.”

“Adam Vulpes,” he said with a smile as he took her hand. “And I’m Ruby,” the silver-eyed girl added, although no one asked. Weiss and Adam turned to look at her for a second before turning back into friendly conversation. Minutes later, the two ended their conversation as she declared that she wanted to go to bed, the masked Adam turned back to Ruby who was standing there with a pout. “What about your sister, didn’t you say that you came together?” Ruby didn’t answer him, but continued to pout instead.

It was clear that she was upset about being ignored by both him and Weiss, but Adam needed an early start tomorrow so he shrugged it off for the time being.

It was 5 am the next morning, and the entire hall was asleep, well at least most of them. There was a redheaded girl with green eyes who had just changed out of her Wonder Woman pyjamas into a bronze set of armour and was geared up with her spear and shield on her back. She wasn’t the only one though, there was someone else; a masked man who grabbed what looked like a weapon from his luggage and stole quietly out of the hall. The redhead was not only curious, but also on her guard because the man seemed to be up to no good. She trailed him silently until he made his way into another smaller hall.

He suddenly stopped, and took a sort of martial stance, this allowed the redhead to observe the weapon he carried; it was a practice katana. That explains why he moved from the rest of the newer intakes, so that he could practice in solitude, the redhead nearly facepalmed herself, but she decided to simply watch him since her interested had been piqued.

She was surprised to see the way he trained, he practiced the moves alright, but he practiced them slowly, almost labouriously. She didn’t see the point in it, he wasn’t even practicing katas; he simply drew the blade, performed basic slashes and resheathed it, repeatedly, slowly, monotously and quite frankly disappointingly, the redhead had expected some type of special training as he had even gone through the trouble of waking up so early to practice.

“Have you watched enough?” the man asked as he sheathed his sword for the final time. The redhead was surprised as she believed that she was rather stealthy, but she stepped out to greet the man, scratching her head embarrassingly since he was aware that she had been watching him. “Pyrrha Nikos,” he declared more than asked the redhead, “World renowned fighter, who hails from Mistral.”

“Very perceptive,” she smiled politely, while stretching out her hand, “And you-” “Don’t appreciate being spied on,” he interrupted and walked past her, ignoring the outstretched arm. The girl named Pyrrha felt a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance, though she was mostly feeling guilty as she _did_ spy on him.

In the locker room, more of the newer intakes had woken up and we’re fully prepared for the day ahead. Adam walked towards Ruby who was talking to a blonde boy, but on seeing him, she assumed her pouty demeanour once more, so he decided to simply stand alone.

“So, did you hand out parachutes?” asked a blonde boy, the same one who was talking to Ruby earlier, and he was either a joker, or an idiot. Well, either one he was, he was a flying one now, as he was thrown into the air alongside all the other new intakes. Adam landed easily, at a high point in the forest's foliage. He stood still, scanning the entire forest; he seemed to be looking for something, and it seemed that he had found it as he descended from the trees and proceeded to run to a point east of him.

Seconds later, a black and white figure appeared in his line of sight; the figure seemed to notice him as it sped up wildly. Although that proved to be futile, as he threw his spada da lato into the ground before the figure, a blow that nearly hit it and stopped it dead in its tracks. “Blake!” Adam shouted to the figure in front of him, the figure turned around shakily to reveal her face, she was the same catlike girl that had joined Ruby and Weiss’ ‘conversation’, the previous day. Though she seemed a completely different person today; the day before, she had a cool, nonchalant vibe, but now, she quivered in fear so much that even her bow trembled. “Adam,” she said with chattering teeth, “I-I…” “What’s with you Blake?” he said almost amusedly, as he made to retrieve his sword.

“You’re shaking like a leaf, relax. I’m not here as a White Fang member.”

“W-what do you mean?” she asked in trepidation.

“You inspired me Blake,” he said as he placed a hand on her quivering shoulder, “I was your mentor, but you did something that I only wish I had the courage to do, you left, and your doing so gave me the courage to follow you.” Blake had stopped quivering, and looked up at the man who was her mentor not too long ago. Suddenly, she recoiled from his hand, “I don’t believe you!” she shouted though it came out as more of a whisper.

“Blake, if I wanted to kill you, I would have cut you down already, I have no reason to lie to you.” Blake desperately scanned Adam’s face, his eyes, his hands; she scanned furiously for some evidence that he was lying, that but she saw none, but her eyes finally landed on the hilt of his sword. “Y-you aren’t with Wilt and Blush,” she observed, “That sword means so much to you.”

“It does,” he said somberly, “But it’s so stained in blood that it’d probably weigh me down. I want a second chance, can’t I be allowed to get even that?” Blake’s resolve was broken when she heard those words; her mentor whom she had never seen uncertain about anything, who had never once hesitated, was here, basically begging for reaffirmation; begging for a chance at redemption. She enveloped this man in a hug, her hands couldn’t wrap fully around his muscular frame, but she squeezed him as tightly as possible, it was her way to of telling him that she was there for him.

“How hard can it be to make eye contact with someone?” came a frustrated voice from behind the two, they turned around to see a blonde lady with lilac eyes. “Hey!” the girl waved as she noticed the two, “Remember me?”

“You know her?” Adam whispered.

“Yeah, we met yesterday,” she said shyly as though she was embarrassed by the other girl’s loud demeanour.

“You’re looking for a partner?”

“Yes, and rather unsuccessfully I must say,” she said as she kicked at the dirt in frustration.

“Well, Blake doesn’t have a partner, so you two can pair up.”

“But you’ve already made eye contact haven’t you.”

“Technically no,” he responded pointing at the mask, “Plus, I won’t tell if you don’t. I’m winking behind the mask by the way.”

“See you two later,” he said as he ran back towards his starting point.

**(A/N: I’m going to skip the fight with the Nevermore and the Deathstalker, as it unravels same as the show.)**

“Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark,” the boys that bore the names lined up as the auditorium burst into cheer. “The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL …led by Cardin Winchester!” This statement was made by the Principal, Ozpin.

“Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR. Led by… Jaune Arc!”

“Huh? Led by…?”

“Congratulations, young man,” said the Principal, Ozpin, who had been making all the announcements.

“Blake Dellarobia, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by… Ruby Rose!”

“I’m so proud of you!” Yang says as she gives her little sister/team leader a hug.

“And finally: Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Adam Vulpes and Neo Reeves. The four of you retrieved the black queen pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team AMEN. Led by… Adam Vulpes.”

The auditorium erupted one last time in applause, as the newest students of Beacon Academy were announced. “This is shaping up to be an interesting year,” said Principal Ozpin amidst the ruckus as he exited the auditorium next to the Vice Principal Glynda Goodwitch. “I’ll say, we have a team leader with false transcripts, another who is much too young to be here, and another who is a faunus in disguise.”

“Like I said, an interesting year,” he said with a small smile, “But you’re worried about something else, aren’t you?”

“Both Blake Dellarobia and Adam Vulpes disappeared during the exam, it wasn’t for that long, but I still lost sight of them, that makes me feel uncomfortable.”

“Hmm,” Ozpin mused in response to Glynda’s worries, “We already know that ‘Dellarobia’ is the daughter of the former White Fang leader, and current chief of Menagerie. Vulpes is also from Menagerie, so them being connected in some way isn’t out of the question.”

“Do you think her father sent him to keep an eye on his daughter?”

“That is rather plausible, seeing as Vulpes is older than most other applicants, and is more than capable of being admitted into Haven.”

“If you’re trying to convince me not to worry, you are failing.”

“We’ll look into his background more thoroughly, I’m sure it’s nothing though.”

“If you insist, sir,” she said as she walked past him.

“An interesting year indeed,” Principal Ozpin whispered as he looked up at the fragmented moon.

“Excellent acting, Mr. Taurus,” said Emerald with mock applause after the four of them walked into their private dorm room. The man in question bowed in response to her praise, “I wouldn’t have been able to do anything if both you and Neo didn’t throw people off my scent, while I talked to her.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re all great,” interrupted Mercury, the only one who wasn’t getting any praise, “Why not just kill her?”

“That would’ve been too suspicious.” Adam said with a small smile. Mercury shrugged, suddenly losing interest. “This is going to be an interesting year, don’t you think?” Adam said with an almost manic smile.

  



	2. With great responsibility comes great doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leadership is more difficult than bunk beds and shouting 'Banzai!' Ruby learns that today. Will her daunting responsibility be enough to discourage her from being team leader?

It’s another beautiful day at Beacon Academy; the sun was up, the birds were calling, and team RWBY is rushing to class with team JNPR on their tail. As it’s clear, they’re both late, really late. Ruby’s every instinct told her to use her semblance to speed up, but her conscience would not allow her to leave her teammates behind. Weiss had no such compunctions, as she used glyphs to speed herself up while waving at the friends that she blitzed past.  
“Bye by-” her snide goodbye was cut off by her abrupt stop, which led to her being sprawled on the floor. “You should really watch where you’re going,” said the tall man she had run into. “Oh, it’s just you Vulpes,” she said as she shook her head, “Mind helping a lady up?” The bull faunus obliged and gave her his hand and pulled her up. “What are you doing here? I figured someone like you would be the first to arrive.”   
“I was actually,” he said as the rest of team RWBY and team JNPR caught up to Weiss, “I’m now the class rep or something, so I’m here to get everyone who’s late, and give you citations.” The last part was said with a smile of pure schadenfreude as he pulled out and issued tickets to all present.   
“Ten Lien for tardiness?” Weiss asked angrily. “This is outrageous officer.”  
“You were speeding too,” he said with a small smile, “Okay, come along everyone, I’m supposed to make sure that everyone without a sufficient excuse attends today’s class.” This was followed by annoyed grumbles from the latecomers as they fell in line behind him.   
Later that afternoon, team RWBY is attending, or in Ruby’s case sleeping through, a class by Peter Port. No one really takes the class seriously, because pretty much everyone had faced and taken down the Grimm Mr. Port was discussing. It was so bad that Ruby rose from her nap, just to draw caricature of the aptly named Mr. Port. Although, instead of a praise for her ‘well-made’ drawing, she got an eraser to the head from the class rep. Although it hardly deterred her from her antics; as she kept getting on Weiss’ nerves throughout the class.   
“The moral of this story?” Mr. Port’s voice boomed with his rhetorical question.  
“A true Huntsman must be dependable!”  
“A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!”   
“So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?”   
“I do, sir!” shouted Weiss with all the annoyance that she had gathered in the course of the class.  
“Well then, let’s find out!” The portly teacher declared energetically, as he lifted a sheet that revealed a cage with a pair of red eyes. “Step forward, and face your opponent!”  
Weiss takes her stance and readies Myrtenaster, levelling the blade at the viciously glowing pair of eyes.  
“Gooo, Weiss!”  
“Fight well!”  
“Yeah, represent Team RWBY!” came the encouragements from her teammates, although the last one simply led to the team leader being rebuked.   
“Let the match begin!” as he breaks the cage door and revealing the Boarbarusk inside, which immediately charged Weiss, her anger and frustration probably being irresistible to it. Weiss is able to deflect the boar-like Grimm’s charge with her rapier while moving away from the creature. Weiss then charged at the Boarbatusk, trying to block out Mr. Port’s observations and Ruby’s encouragement, though they still annoyed her.   
In the midst of all this, Adam was tapping his fingers on his desks, although no one noticed, seeing as there was a fight before them, at least no one other than his teammates.   
The Grimm was smarter than it looked, as it locked Myrtenaster in its tusks, and Weiss’ attempts to free her blade from the beast’s grasp were unsuccessful.   
“Come on, Weiss, show it who’s boss!” These innocent words of encouragement by Ruby earned her a death glare from Weiss. The Boarbatusk took advantage, seeing that its prey was distracted and flung both the sword and the user in opposite directions.   
Weiss had to suddenly dive out of the way of the beast’s rolling attack, as she made her way to the fallen blade. “Aim it’s belly, it doesn’t have any armour there!”   
“Stop telling me what to do!” Weiss shouted at her leader, although she proceeded to do exactly as she advised.   
“Excellent work, Miss Schnee! It seems that you have all the qualifications of a hunter-in-training,” Mr. Port praised after she had dispatched the Grimm.   
“Uh, excuse me sir,” a grey-haired boy with nice features and a wicked smile, “But ‘Miss Schnee’ took several minutes to take down a Grimm who is basically fodder. She managed to lose her weapon, take her eyes off her opponent and berate not only her teammate, but her team leader for offering her advice, advice she later took.”   
“Why y-,” the Schnee heiress’ rebuttal was cut off with Mr. Port’s raised hand. “What are you getting at? Mister…”  
“Black, and what I’m saying is that I’m sure that a little one on one, is more of a test of a true hunter’s mettle than fighting some random Grimm. That’s if, Ice Queen is up to it.” The wink that punctuated his last sentence was the last straw for the Schnee Company heiress, as she pointed her blade at Mercury and invited him to the front of the class.   
Mercury nonchalantly made his way to the front of the class and stretched his limbs and warmed up. “Go easy on me Princess,” he said with a smirk as he took his stance. The incensed Atlysian charged at him, ready to make him pay for his insolence. Too bad, he effortlessly dodged to the side.   
This was followed a low kick, causing Weiss to lose her balance and stumble backwards, swinging wildly to try and keep the grey-haired assassin away from her. Mercury simply swatted the blade away and delivered a ferocious palm strike to her gut, flinging her across the room. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked with a genuinely concerned voice, although anyone could see the insincerity in his inquiry.   
Weiss was so angry that she wanted to put her blade through his head, but instead, she raised Myrtenaster, and took a deep breath; she had to be calm to beat him, she couldn’t let her anger get in the way of her proving that she had what it takes to be a Huntress. “Come at me,” she said as she pointed the well-crafted blade at her opponent. Mercury’s curiosity was piqued by her sudden, calm temperament, so he decided to humour her as he sprinted towards the white-haired Huntress-in-training.   
“Gotcha,” she whispered to herself, as she activated a gravity-affecting glyph underneath Mercury’s feet, effectively sticking him to the floor. Weiss smirked on seeing Mercury’s surprised face, since she had him trapped, the only thing left for her was to wear down his aura from continued attacks from a distance. All of a sudden, the glyph deactivated, it was only for a second, but it was more than enough for Mercury who had been waiting for an opening. He sped towards the heiress, who was still confused as to why her glyph had faltered, but she aimed her MARD at him, attacking with ice dust to slow her opponent down, although Mercury simply dodged past it and closed in on the heiress.  
Fortunately, the time taken for his detour was enough for Weiss to set up several glyphs above their heads. She ascended unto one of the glyphs, as it held her in place midair, and prepared for a strike. Surprisingly, her glyph faltered once more, except this time there was no chance to remedy it. Fortunately, Mercury caught her… with a kick midair.   
Weiss wasn’t done yet, as she stood up to face Mercury once more. “That’s enough students! Shake hands and congratulate each other on a match well-fought.” These words were unacceptable to Weiss, she wasn’t done, she had to return each insult, she needed to make him pay for his insolence, she-.  
“Good job, you really had me on my toes,” Mercury said genuinely as he stretched his hand out, “You really do have what it takes to be a Huntress.” Weiss stared at his hand for a few seconds; she knew he was mocking her, his eyes showed no evidence of deceit, not an iota of insincerity, but she knew, she felt it. He thought of her as a joke, she could hear him laugh and she wanted to make him shut up, but she couldn’t do so.   
She may not have been able to stop him from mocking her, but she wouldn’t swallow his insult by agreeing to shake his hand. She walked past him with her held head high, she was a Schnee, and she wasn’t going to be mocked. She went straight out of the class, because the period was over several minutes ago, the students only stayed to watch the fight.   
“Weiss!” came a voice from behind her, it was Ruby, “What was that? Are you okay?”   
“I’m fine.”  
“It didn’t look that way to me. Snapping at me, refusing to shake Mercury’s hand even though he praised you as a fighter.”   
“I said I’m fine Ruby, just leave it at that.”  
“No! We’re a team and I’m kind of the leader, you have to talk to me, Weiss.” She said, almost imploringly.  
“Leader?!” Weiss laughed, “In what world are you a leader? Is it because you had us get bunk beds? Or because you shout ‘banzai’? Oh, maybe it’s because, you are such a great leader that you managed to get us late on the very first day!”   
“I-I…” the silver-eyed team leader stuttered and hugged her arm, recoiling from her teammate’s reproach.   
“Just tell me this,” Weiss lowered her voice finally, knotting her eyebrows, “Give me a single reason, a small one, why I, an Atlessian elite, someone who has trained all her life to be here, would follow a fifteen-year-old who… likes weapons.” “I-I do…”  
“What was that?”   
“I don’t know.”   
“As I thought,” she said as she placed her hand on her ‘team leader’s’ shoulder, with patronizing smile. “Listen, honey you’re really cute, so maybe you can be the mascot, but I’ll make one thing clear,” she said, suddenly frowning, “You aren’t my leader.”   
“Hundred percent savagery,” said Principal Ozpin, suddenly appearing with his faithful cane and even more faithful coffee mug, “I’m surprised that you didn’t cry.”   
“Not funny,” she said, using her signature pout against her principal. “I suppose not,” he said mildly, handing her another mug of coffee, that he had removed from Monty knows where, “Walk with me Miss Rose.” The two walked through the halls and made their way to a balcony, “So Miss Rose,” he said as he took a seat on the balcony, “What do you plan on doing?”   
“Well, I was going to go to your office and asked to be removed from my position as team leader. But you saved me the trip and gave me coffee… Thank you for that.”   
“Quit? You can’t do that.”  
“Why not?” she asked in frustration, “Why can’t I quit?”  
“Well for one; what will they call you?”  
“Excuse me?”  
“What will they call you? Do you have any idea how hard it is to form a name with only consonants? I think that Monty just couldn’t find a colour that started with the letter ‘u’ and decided to manage with ‘w’, but that’s just my opinion anyway.”1  
“W-what? You’re saying you only chose me because it was convenient for the naming?”  
“What other reason would I have for choosing you? I mean, it’s not like you bravely charged into battle to help another, and even lead your friends to defeat a Grimm. It’s not as if you’ve shown characteristics that every team leader should have in battle.”  
Ruby was angry, then she was flattered, then she decided that she was confused, “If I’m truly so qualified, then why doesn’t Weiss think so?”   
“To be fair, Miss Rose, you have showed your natural potential for leadership, but its far from enough to justify your being leader. What reason do you give Weiss Schnee, someone of high birth and standing, or Blake Dellarobia, or even your sister, Yang who has taken care of you them to follow you?”  
“Is it because you are smart? Wise? Strong?” Ozpin paused and tried taking a sip of his coffee, just to discover that it was empty, since he now had nothing to do with his hands, he placed one of them on Ruby’s shoulder. “To be a leader, you need to be all these things, and more. You need to be everything your team needs of you and more, and whatever you can’t be, you need to give your subordinates the courage and support to be that.”  
“S-subordinates?” Ruby’s eyes quivered as she muttered this word, she already knew that she was going to be the leader, but ‘subordinates?’ The word was too scary for her, she couldn’t imagine Yang, someone who has been a mother to her being her ‘subordinate.’  
“Yes, Miss Rose, they are your subordinates. You can be their friends, but you are different, that’s the sacrifice of a leader, you are always alone in some way, you will always bear the responsibilities, you will always bear the consequences. This is the price of leadership, it is the heaviest responsibility ever.”  
“What’s wrong with you?” she whisper, her voice on the edge of breaking, as it picks up in volume with every sentence “First, you try to stop me from quitting. Then you dump all these… things on me. Why?!”  
“Did it seem as though I was supposed to be reassuring you? I’m sorry about that,” he said as he started sipping another cup of coffee2, “I’m simply telling you the requirements of being a leader should you choose to accept it. You had doubts, that’s why you wanted to pass on the responsibility of being team leader. You wanted reassurance that you could be leader, but I have none. If you lack faith in yourself so much that you need my reassurance, then why should the rest of your team have any faith in you? What reason do you give them to follow you?”  
“I-I’m sorry,” said Ruby, ashamed that she had raised her voice at her principal, who was just trying to instruct her.  
The white-haired principal had gone through his last cup of coffee, and so his hands were free once more to touch the young, silver-eyed girl’s shoulder in reassurance once more. But he decided not to, because it would be weird after the author of this fanfiction had just worded it like this. “Doubt can be a good thing,” he declared, “So long as you learn something from it, empty reassurances and reinforcements will not help you grow. There is a choice before you, I’ve done my job by presenting you with the pros and cons, now your job is to decide.”  
“Did you have to scare the poor girl so much?” asked Glynda Goodwitch, who appeared at Ozpin’s side immediately Ruby Rose left. “Leadership is full of far scarier things than the ravings of an old man, if she was scared off by just that, then she’s certainly not ready, not yet.” The cup of coffee that was approaching his lips as he spoke, managed to slip through his fingers, and broke on the floor below him. Glynda rolled her eyes at the childish pout that Ozpin threw at her, as she used her semblance to put the cup back together, but then snatched it from Ozpin and took a sip herself.  
Ruby felt terrible, she wandered about till she arrived back in class; she couldn’t go back to the dorm room, not right now. “You’re still here?” came a voice from within the classroom, it was Adam who was still arranging books and cleaning up. “Oh, Adam, sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’ll, I’ll go now.”  
“Wait, don’t,” the redhead, called to her as she tried to leave, “Help me clean up.”   
“Why is there so much trash on the first day?” Ruby asked as she tried to clean up copious amounts of some sort of slime from the floor.   
“Somebody played a prank and let’s say the victim’s semblance wasn’t keeping his lunch down.”  
“I preferred it when you didn’t tell me,” she said as she pinched her nose in disgust.   
She turned around to see that Adam was cleaning up a similar mess, but on the ceiling, she feared to ask how it got there, for he might actually tell her. At the end of everything, Adam cleaned up most of it, Ruby actually added to the mess when she thought she saw something move in the slime.   
“Here,” he said, passing a small chocolate box to her as he sat down next to the exhausted brunette. Ruby’s eyes glowed in happiness, as she picked a small, dark circle and placed one on her tongue, Adam doubted his heightened hearing for a second, because he thought he heard her purr.   
“So, what’s got you down?”   
“Oh, you noticed,” Ruby said meekly, although she still popped another chocolate into her mouth.  
“The only way you could have seemed more depressed was if Zach Boucher was playing in the background,” he waited a few seconds for her to laugh at his joke, although he waited futilely.  
“Terrible joke, I know but I had to try,” he said with a playful shrug.  
His attempt elicited a small smile from her this time, a smile that quickly went away.   
“It’s nothing that serious, it’s just… It’s just that I don’t have anybody I think that I can talk about this stuff with.”  
“What about your sister?” Adam suddenly had a feeling that he shouldn’t have asked that question, as Ruby dropped the chocolate that she was about to eat, as if the question made her too depressed to stress eat.3  
“I’m sorry,” he said gently, “You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to.”   
“No, it’s okay. Yang is… well, to be frank, Yang is tired of me.” With every word of that that she spoke, Ruby’s entire body gravitated towards the chocolate box on her lap, as though that was the only source of warmth in a blizzard, as though it would slip from her lap if she didn’t smother it.   
“You see, I don’t remember my mom, but up until I was about seven or so, whenever I thought ‘mom,’ I thought ‘Yang’. Yang was always there, she taught me so much; like how to braid my hair, something I never do, how to put on makeup, how to flirt… boy, what a disaster that one was. I’m pretty sure there’s still a guy who thinks I want to kill him. Everything I ended up not using, I did it with Yang.”  
“I think the reason I never do those stuff is because, I didn’t think that braiding without Yang singing The Achieve Men, in my ear, or putting on makeup without her telling me that I didn’t apply enough lipstick or flirting without her trying to coach me from a bush nearby, while facepalming through the whole thing. I didn’t think… I didn’t think that I could do them without her, I always thought those were ‘Yang stuff’.”   
“This put stress on our relationship, because I always wanted her around for something, but she had her own life, her own friends, that she never got to got enough time with because she was taking care of me.”   
“Sorry for going on, and on, I’m done with my pity-party now.”   
“I certainly don’t know what to say about this,” Adam stated as he could not relate to Ruby’s type of mother figure.   
“I’m sorry, you asked me about what was bothering me, and I just dove into another topic entirely. How did I even get there? I don’t know, I’m just really… ditzy.”  
“Not at all,” he said as he ruffled her hair, mostly on instinct, “I enjoy a challenge, let’s see what I can do for you.”   
“Not to sound offensive, but you screwed up your joke, you couldn’t give me advice about my sister. I think I’d be more comfortable consulting a magic eight-ball.” The words stung Adam’s pride deeply, but he was a proud White Fang leader, he would not cry.  
“Yes, but haven’t you heard that ‘third time’s a charm’?”   
“I hope so,” she muttered under her breath.   
“So, what did you want to ask me?”   
“How… how are you able to do it? All of this?” she said gesturing at the now glistening classroom. “I mean, doesn’t it get difficult at times?”  
“Well,” he said stroking his chin, “I’ve had responsibilities for a while now, so I guess that I’m used to it. Rather, I’ll say; everyone has responsibilities, some decide not to take any that’s all. I could easily have turned down the class rep duties or my duties as leader of team AMEN, or simply not done anything I was supposed to do. But responsibility is always there, if you don’t take it now, you’ll probably take responsibility for it down the line. I know I did.” He whispered that last part, although Ruby heard him and decided not to ask him about it. But the two kept talking, mostly her though, she talked about everything that came to mind, she told him how she made her weapon, about her uncle who had trained her, how she liked her coffee, she talked about everything, everything except her frustration with Weiss, how she had asked to be removed from her position as team leader, in other words, everything she wanted to get off her chest.   
“Thank you so much,” Ruby said, as the two stood before her dorm room.   
“It was nothing,” Adam stated, waving off her thanks, “Don’t hesitate to come over and talk with me anytime. Although I’ll probably have nothing useful to say, and just give you chocolate to cover it up.”  
“Chocolate anytime I’m down?” she asked, as she headed into her room, “I can live with that.”   
“Hey, Ruby. Where’ve you been?” Yang asked as soon as her silver-eyed sister stepped into the room.  
“I was just talking to…”  
“What?”   
“I just realized that I spent hours talking to someone, and I somehow never ended up saying what I had wanted to,” she held her head in her hand as she was too drained for a full-on facepalm.   
“Where’ve you been?” asked Mercury, impatient as they were supposed to have a briefing hours ago.   
“I’ll explain later,” he said simply, “Neo if you would.”  
The black-haired girl rolled her eyes, but she still activated her Overactive Imagination. After she did so, the four began to make gestures at each other they were using sign language. Although all four members had checked and ascertained that there were no surveillance devices of any kind in their dorms, they decided to err on the side of caution and Neo activated her semblance to subtly conceal their hands while they communicated. This is what they were saying:  
Mercury: What was the point of making me fight the Schnee girl?  
Emerald: We already agreed that you would be the one to face other students, since there’s a chance one of us would reveal our semblances while gauging their abilities.  
Mercury: We already watched them against the Nevermore and Deathstalker, we saw how they fight. What’s the pointing fighting them again so soon?  
Adam: We can gauge everything from their strength, to their fighting techniques and their rate of improvement. Not to mention that you were able to get a mental hold on the Schnee girl.  
Mercury: I did enjoy that part.  
“Either way,” Adam said, seeing that was nothing else to discuss, “I was with Ruby Rose, and I was cleaning up the classroom too.”   
“Aand, I’ve suddenly lost interest,” Mercury said as he lay down with a comic.  
“The team RWBY leader?” Emerald inquired, apparently interested.  
“Yeah.”  
“I have to ask though; Why were you talking to her?”   
“She happened to walk in on me while I was working, she decided to help me out and we end up talking.”  
“Aren’t you supposed to hate humans or something?”  
“And I’m interested again,” Mercury said, “You were also okay about talking to several of them casually, not to mention you agreed to be part of a group of humans.” Even Neo seemed to be interested, although she simply cocked her head slightly in the direction of the conversation.   
“Well?”   
“If you must know,” he said as he pulled out a small metallic case, about four finger wide, “I use this.”   
“Is that…?” Emerald asked surprised, and Neo made a whistling movement with her mouth to express her surprise. “What? What is it?” asked Mercury as it all went past him.   
“Oh, I forgot, you were raised outside the kingdoms, so you wouldn’t be familiar with it,” Emerald responded smugly.   
“It’s called apathy,” Adam answered as he leaned back in his chair.   
“As in the Grimm?”  
“Yes, it’s a drug that’s fashioned from a Grimm of the same name,” Emerald interjected, “It serves as a sedative of sorts and calms the user down. It’s very common on the streets.”  
“And very important as well, as negative emotions attract Grimm and apathy masks these emotions effectively and is convenient to produce for Huntsmen.”  
“This container looks strange,” Emerald said as she held it up to the light, “ not to mention that there isn’t any company logo on it.”  
“I actually made that myself, the doses, not the container, that was a gift.”  
“You know how to make apathy?”   
“Yeah, it was commonly used on faunus worked in the mines, since the mines were usually away from well-guarded cities and slaves don’t tend to have many positive emotions, it was a proper countermeasure as it reduced the events of Grimm attacks as well as reduced the propensity of rebellion by the slaves. Long story short, I was able to pick up the trick as a kid and it saved me quite a number of times.”  
“You were force-fed apathy?”  
“In every meal until I was nine,” he said with a sardonic smile that set the entire group into a strange silence.  
“I can’t believe our leader is actually some kind of pimp,” Mercury said, breaking the silence.   
“Not really, I actually only use a variation of the drug that can be bought at any pharmacy, I even have a prescription.”   
“Well he somehow just got a lot less cool,” Mercury said, his loss of interest apparent in his voice.

Later that night, Weiss, who had finally returned from her excursion into the city, walked into the dorm room. She looked up at the bed that was tied precariously above hers, she didn’t believe that she agreed to this, still, she always wanted bunk beds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Since the last chapter, many of you have been asking: “MrDoutei, what’s your semblance?” (No one asked me this, I just though it’d be fun to do.)  
> Well, if you go back up to the text with 1 at the end of it, you will see it… My semblance: Ethereal Fourth Wall. What does it do you ask? Well, I’m able to make characters break the fourth wall, this ability is great, because the characters in the scene have no memory of breaking the fourth wall, and it makes for good jokes.   
> [2] Seriously, where does he get all that coffee from?   
>  [3] I know that I’m the one who wrote it, but I want it to be known that I did not mean this. It was a sick, terrible joke and I’m sorry.   
> * I'm sure you guys are like: 'Huh? Is Adam an addict?' Just don't drop the fanfic entirely after reading this chapter.   
> *How does Mercury stop Weiss' glyphs? It'll all be revealed later, at a time when it makes sense in the context. Please be patient.   
> *If you're wondering about my release schedule, I can almost certainly promise it'll be weekly. Although I publish a chapter once I'm done with it, so if all remains constant, it'll be every two days. But at worst weekly.  
> *Thanks for reading this chapter, please, any corrections or tips to make my writing a little less cringey will be appreciated.


	3. Burdens of Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of Jaune's secrets are revealed, and the consequences are almost too much to handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically to develop Jaune.  
> Sorry it's so late.  
> Also, {} indicates Morse code or sign language.

“That was embarrassing,” Mercury laughed as he saw Jaune collapse after he was struck in the gut by Cardin. “That’s enough, Cardin!” Mrs. Goodwitch shouted at Cardin to stop him from flattening the blonde boy’s head. 

“Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc’s aura has now dropped in the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that he is no longer fit for battle and the official would be free to call the match.” The student in question was still on the floor, as he was exhausted from watching Cardin batter him into the ground. Perhaps that was why he could not hear Mrs. Goodwitch’s advice, he was too tired, either that or because he had heard the same advice severally already. _Most likely, Cardin beat my sense of hearing out of me._

“Remember everyone, the Vytal festival is only a few months away! So, keep training as whoever participates will be representing the whole of Vale!” _Oh, no, there it is,_ Jaune mused, referring to his hearing as he was able to hear the last part of Mrs. Goodwitch’s announcement.

“I would appreciate it if you stayed behind Mr. Arc,” Principal Ozpin, who appeared out of nowhere with a cup of coffee and a kind smile.

“Okay, sure,” he said, confident that he was in trouble. _What if he found out that my transcripts are fake._

_“_ Mr. Arc,” he said, “while caressing his coffee mug, “I know that your transcripts are fake. I’ve known since you enrolled.”

Cold sweat broke across his skin, he couldn’t deny it, _Wait, is his semblance something like reading minds? Does that mean he can hear me right now?_

“No Mr. Arc, I cannot read minds, although that would be really cool, wouldn’t it?”

“I-if you knew that my transcripts were fake,” Jaune said as he held his head in his hands, trying to form a coherent sentence, “Why was I admitted into the school?”

“Good question, Mr. Arc, coffee?” the last part took Jaune by surprise as a coffee mug was pushed into his hands and he began to sip it unconsciously, “The reason I let you into Beacon, was because I saw potential in you; the potential to be a great warrior and a greater leader.”

“P-potential? In me?” Jaune asked, wide-eyed.

“Yes, Mr. Arc… However, the past several weeks have been… underwhelming to say the least.”

Jaune’s head fell in shame, remembering every embarrassing thing that had happened to him since he was admitted. “Not to fear young man, I know exactly how to help.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I will be sending you to Vacuo, Shade Academy to be specific.”

“You’re… kicking me out?”

“Not at all, Mr. Arc, think of it more as a transfer, there’s a particular teacher there who owes me a favour, and she’s the perfect match for someone of your natural talents.”

“But, that means…”

“I know that this is a difficult decision to make,” Ozpin said as he stood up, ready to depart, “You’d be leaving your friends and comrades behind. It’s okay to mull this over.”

“Just think about this; can you truly call yourself a leader if all you ever do is drag your teammates down?” These incredibly harsh words were Principal Ozpin’s closing call, as he left the classroom, taking his coffee mugs with him.

Later that day, Jaune was seated at the table with his friends, well most of his friends, Ruby and Weiss weren’t at the table with him.

Ever since Ruby stepped down from her position, and team RWBY voted for a new leader, there was some serious friction. Basically, it was Weiss against everybody else, Blake was also angry at Ruby, for stepping down and giving Weiss the opportunity to become the leader, and Yang for voting for Weiss, and the whole thing was just a big fustercluck. So, the girls of team RWBY or WRBY took turns; Blake sometimes sat with team AMEN, and when that happened, Ruby sat with team JNPR. Yang was pretty versatile, as she went to either group whenever the mood suited her, or even hung out with the older students.

Jaune felt bad for Weiss; she was the only one who was always isolated, he had tried to keep her company, but she wasn’t having any pity. She was a Schnee after all, they were calm and noble, even when they were alone.

Today though, the only thing he could think about was his earlier conversation with Principal Ozpin, how was he supposed to make such an important choice?

“Jaune!” shouted Pyrrha, snapping the team JNPR leader out of his musing.

“Huh? What was that, Pyrrha?”

“Are you okay, Jaune?” 

“Of course, I’m okay,” he said, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“We’re not sure, but your fake smile probably has something to do with it,” Nora answered, as she held Jaune’s hand tightly, “You can tell us, whatever it is.”

“I don’t have any idea what you guys mean, I’m completely fine, trust me.”

“Ow! That hurts,” came a voice past team JNPR’s table, it was Velvet Scarlatina, a second-year faunus student, and her bunny ears were being pulled on by another second-year student, Gordo Joseph, a member of team FROG.

“Atrocious,” Pyrrha commented, after Gordo had let go of Velvet and she scampered of, “I can’t stand people like him.”

“It’s not just him,” Blake declared as she stared daggers at Weiss who was seated several seats away.

“The first time I vote, and it’s a racist,” Yang inserted, trying to convey her new team leader’s views comically, “Personally, I blame democracy.”

“Maybe racist is a bit of a harsh word, don’t you think?”

“Jaune, what else do you call someone who discriminates others based on their race?”

“What about the rest of Velvet’s team? Surely, they wouldn’t allow their teammate get bullied so publicly?”

“They definitely wouldn’t,” answered Yang, who was fairly familiar with the upperclassmen, “But they were all injured severely on their last mission, so they’re recovering off campus. And Gordo is taking full advantage of that.”

This talk seemed to enrage Blake even more as she rushed out of the dining hall, fuming. “Wait, Blake, you were… supposed to treat me.” Yang called out, although her voice faded to a mutter as she saw that Blake was long gone.

After history class, Ruby blitzed out of the classroom, prepared to push, shove and step on anyone who stood in her way; she had to make it to the… broom closet. Immediately she got in, she grabbed brooms, mops, detergent and pretty much anything that could be used to clean. And then she rushed back towards the class at what look like Mach speed. (Now, if our heroine _doesn’t_ collide with someone, I think that’d just be bad writing.)

“Ow, Ruby!” Jaune shouted after Ruby ran into him at the entrance of the class.

“Are you okay?” asked Pyrrha as she pulled both of them up.

“Yeah,” Jaune answered although he still felt a little groggy from the clash.

Ruby didn’t answer the redhead as she frantically tried to gather up the cleaning supplies.

“Are you okay, Ruby?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m great, just peachy,” she responded in a tone that would’ve been unconvincing even if she wasn’t staring at the cleaning supplies rather than making eye contact with them.

“Ruby!” Pyrrha said as she grabbed the silver-eyed girl by her shoulders and stared straight at her, “Are you okay?”

Ruby’s resistance was broken by Pyrrha’s forceful and earnest approach, her eyes began to well up. “I-it’s him,” the fifteen-year old sniffled, “Who? Who’s ‘him’?”

“Adam!”

“What did he do to you, Ruby?”

“He, he…”

It started a few weeks ago, the day that Weiss was voted as the new leader of team RWBY, Ruby was feeling rather down and decided to take Adam up on his offer of talking and _chocolate_. “What do you mean you have a new team leader?” Adam asked from his position the ceiling, scraping the gum from it. (Don’t ask how gum got there, you don’t want to know.) “I mean it’s no longer team RWBY, it’s team WRBY.”

“But the only way for a team leader to be removed is for her to request it or be reported for inappropriate conduct or severe ineptitude.”

“Yeah, I kinda quit,” she mentioned, shyly as she dodged the blobs of gum that fell from the ceiling.

“What?”

“I said that I sort of quit being team leader.” Immediately the words left her mouth, the atmosphere of the mostly empty classroom, and it seemed the undercover bull Faunus was the cause. The once-friendly Adam, with a calm and inviting disposition seemed to disappear and was replaced by an Adam with a scary, almost menacing presence.

The masked team leader drop from the ceiling, his scary presence becoming more imposing as he approached the silver-eyed ex-team leader. “So, I gave a speech about taking responsibility and your takeaway was to pass on your responsibility as team leader to someone else?”

“Well, actually, I had already asked to be removed as a team leader before our talk.”

This response led to Adam pausing his approach for a second, he was so surprised that he wanted to take his mask off so that he could properly facepalm. “It seems strange that you didn’t mention it during our talk,” he responded calmly as he picked up a broom, his fearsome presence from earlier dissipated like a fart. “I actually wanted to, but I sort of forgot,” Ruby responded embarrassedly, forgetting her confusion at Adam’s almost bipolar change in demeanour. Adam simply sighed, no longer surprised that she’d be able to forget something as important as that but remembered to tell him her favourite chocolate.

“I have tons of work to do,” Adam muttered to himself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing important. So, Weiss is your new leader. What do you think about that?”

“I didn’t vote for her, but I think she’s capable of leading us, as soon as we start talking to each other again.”

“There’s friction in your team?”

“Yeah, it was so bad I spent lunch at your table.”

“Apparently, Weiss doesn’t really… well she’s… she…”

“Is a racist?” added Adam, putting an end to Ruby’s hemming and hawing.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“It’s nothing overt, but it’s still obvious. I’ve seen people like her many times before, they’re taught that they are superior and they stick to their misconceptions with a white-knuckled grip because they are too proud to accept that they might be wrong.”

“You seem to _really_ know people like her.”

Adam simply shrugged in response as he got back to mopping.

“We get it, you guys talked,” interrupted Jaune, “But that doesn’t explain why you’re running around with cleaning supplies and on the verge of tears.”

“Well, we talked normally,” Ruby answered, “but the next day, he started hitting me for no reason. And he wouldn’t stop no matter how much I begged him to”

“Adam? Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know, but he kept shouting stuff like: ‘That’s pathetic,’ and ‘I should learn put up my guard in time if not I’ll get hit.’”

The last sentence caused Jaune and Pyrrha’s thinking to come to a standstill. “Ruby, do you mean that he was training you?” “Yes,” Ruby answered boldly, oblivious to Pyrrha’s menacing tone. “And what’s worse, he told me that I was his new assistant class rep.” Jaune and Pyrrha were flabbergasted, in fact, they were so angry that they could vomit blood.

“Not just that,” she added, grateful that she was able to gather sympathisers to her plight, “He-“

Ruby’s statement was cut off by a chop to her head from… Pyrrha?

“Don’t joke with us!” the world-renowned fighter said as she struck Ruby, _I can’t believe you actually had us sympathizing with you,_ Pyrrha thought angrily.

“What did I do?” Ruby asked, holding on to her new bump.

“You made it seem as though he was bullying you when he’s just mentoring you.”

“I never said he _bullied_ me, I was just trying to elicit sympathy because I don’t like doing chores.”

“Wait, Pyrrha, don’t do it,” Jaune shouted as he held Pyrrha back from delivering a series of chops to Ruby.

“Ruby!” came a shout from the classroom, which was followed by a terrifying presence that sent chills through the trio’s spines. It was Adam, and he wasn’t pleased, although he still greeted the other two politely as he dragged Ruby by her ear into the classroom.

“That was… something.” Jaune commented, almost speechless. “Move, loser!” Cardin said as he pushed Jaune to the floor. Pyrrha was prepared to knock Cardin upside the head, as she placed her hand on Milo’. “Don’t,” Jaune said as he grabbed her balled up fist, “Please.”

The redhaired Sanctum Academy alumni took a deep breath and let go of her weapon. “I _will_ break his legs,” she declared as she helped her team leader up. Suddenly, her eyes lit up as though she had suddenly gotten an idea. “I’ll see you later, Jaune,” she said as she ran back towards the dorms.

“Finally, we’re done,” Ruby exclaimed in relief, “Somehow, this class manages to end up like this every day. I think somebody is _trying_ to make us suffer. What do you think A-” She abruptly ended her question, as she saw the butt of a broom approaching her face. “Ha!” she shouted victoriously as she was able to block the hit, “I won’t fall the same trick twice.”

“Why not?” Adam asked with his signature smile, “You’ve already fallen for it more than a dozen times.”

“Doesn’t matter, I blocked this time, maybe _I_ should be the class rep instead.”

“Maybe,” he said as he used the broom to trip her, “But after you clean that spot you missed.”

“Ouch!”

“Either way, you’ve improved, I’m proud.”

“Does that mean?”

“Yes, it does,” he said as he pulled out a familiar box of chocolates and Ruby rushed at him faster than her semblance could ever hope to take her.

“No matter how you look at it, I’m the one who’s getting cheated. You just come for free sweets.”

Ruby responded with a smile she thought was cute and would’ve been if not for the chocolate that still stained her teeth. “I can’t believe you actually made this,” she mused as she popped another one into her mouth.

“I have a subordinate back in my village’s militia who made them all the time, I picked it up since we spent so much time together.”

“Seems like you and your _subordinate_ are very close,” Ruby stated with a teasing lilt to her voice.

“It’s nothing like that,” Adam scratched his head, seemingly embarrassed.

“Uh, Adam?”

“Yes?”

“Do you mind if I ask you something? It’s kind of a personal question.” _You’re finally going to ask him about his mask Ruby. Don’t back down, it’ll be awkward but you can do it!_ Ruby thought confidently.

“Ask away.”

“How come… your weapon looks so rough?” _I couldn’t do it,_ the year one assistant class rep thought, _I mean, how do you ask someone why they wear a mask? What if he’s hiding a scar? What if he’s not confident about his looks? What if he’s Batman? Wait, Ruby, back to the matter at hand._

“What?”

“I mean,” said the brunette, with wide hand gestures, “It’s really cool and practical, but it looks almost… makeshift. The hilt is actually too wide so it can make for a poor swing, although it does add weight to the blade since it’s a little too light, not to mention that the blade is asymmetrical and… Adam?” Ruby had seized her analysis of Nerium Thorn as she saw that Adam had unsheathed the blade. The White Fang leader was looking at the blade; running his gloved hand over the small cracks and faults that riddled the weapon he had once cleaned and maintained daily.

“I’m really sorry,” Ruby apologised, while gesturing wildly in embarrassment, “I just kept running my mouth. What do _I_ know about weapons? Nothing-”

“It’s okay,” said with a smile that was four parts reminiscent and six parts rueful, “The guy who made this sword was a real idiot.”

“You notice how we haven’t appeared in this chapter?” Emerald asked Mercury from inside their dorm room. Neo suddenly started signing: {Yeah, it’s as though the author just put us here for comedic purpose and to give the main narrative a little time to breathe.}

“Speak for yourselves,” Mercury declared smugly, “I got the first line in the chapter.”

“The first line in a chapter that’s nearly three thousand words in, what an achievement.”

“Are we really not going to be relevant this chapter?” Mercury asked, his formerly smug demeanour gone.

“It’s pretty sad seeing as we’re the main antagonists, at least for now.”

{I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not going to be sidelined on one of the only non-smut fanfictions I’m a part of, I’m going to find a way to be relevant to the plot.} 

Later that evening, while students were filing into the cafeteria for dinner, Pyrrha took Jaune by the hand and lead him to the roof of the school. The blonde team-leader followed behind her, severely confused.

“Pyrrha, I know I was feeling depressed earlier,” Jaune said as he looked over the edge of the roof, “But this solution seems a little… permanent, and not the good kind.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Pyrrha responded, mortified that such an idea was brought up, jokingly or not.

“So, what did you bring me up here for?”

“We’re going to train together,” Pyrrha exclaimed enthusiastically, waiting for Jaune to express a similar zeal.

“Training?”

“Yeah, training. I got the idea from Adam and Ruby,” she said, still awaiting his enthusiasm, “I thought that both of us could do the same, you know? Help you catch up with the rest of the class.”

“You think I need help?”

“I didn’t mean it like that?”

“But you just said it. Is that what this is? You feel bad for me and you want to ‘help’ me?” Jaune snapped at Pyrrha, before lowering his voice and turning his face away in shame. “Am… am I that pitiful to you?”

“Jaune,” Pyrrha whispered to her team leader. “Look at me,” she added a little more forcefully, “Now, get your head out of your backside.” The only punctuation she used for that sentence was a gentle smack to the back of the head of the fourth-generation warrior.

“Jaune,” she said holding his hand in hers, “Do you remember when we first met? I called you a natural-born leader and you proved it to us, all of us on that day. Since then, you’ve led us, whether it be training missions or food fights, you’ve led us and we _all_ have faith in you.”

“However, we know that you can’t do everything, everyone needs help sometimes. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for friends and family and mentors that lifted me up unto a pedestal. Just this once, you can rely on me, on your team.” The two stayed there, silent for many a moment, her deep green eyes staring at him, urging him to trust in her, his blue eyes avoiding her gaze, too ashamed to try and read it.

“You, you’re wrong about me,” he said finally, “I’m no leader, I’m not even supposed to be here.”

“What do you mean by that? Jaune, you have as much of a right to be here as any other student.”

“That’s… that’s not true.”

“I don’t understand, what do you mean it isn’t true?”

“My transcripts, they were fake. I never went to combat school, I never passed the entrance exams, I never did anything to earn my place here, I only lied to get to where I am.”

“I-I, don’t…” Pyrrha spoke, tripping over which words to say, “Why?”

“Because my father was a warrior, as strong as any huntsman, so was his father and his father before that and I’m… nothing.”

“Then let me help you!”

“I don’t want help!” he shouted at her, suddenly turning his face to her in frustrated anger, “I don’t want to be the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives!”

“Jaune, I-”

“Don’t you understand?” he said grabbing her shoulders. “I’m supposed to be the leader,” he chuckled mirthlessly as though finding the fact comical. “If I can’t even do this, what’s the point? What’s the point of a leader who can only drag his friends down?” The last two sentences were spoken a lot more somberly.

“I’m sorry,” he said, realizing that his hands were gripping her shoulders tightly, “I-I… can you leave me alone for a while?”

Pyrrha simply nodded as she walked past her team leader and back down into the school.

Jaune stood silently on the roof, his confusion, shame and unsureness weighing him down so much that he couldn’t lift his head. Meanwhile, on a nearby balcony, Neo watched the seen and giggled silently, The mute girl deftly glided down until she got back to the dorm, and she mischievously skipped to her room.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was wandering the halls of Beacon Academy confusedly. _I should have said something else, I should have… I don’t know what I should’ve done._ _I don’t even know what to think anymore. Jaune? He lied his way into Beacon._ “Nikos!” came a voice from behind her, a voice that had probably called her more than once, though she couldn’t know since her mind was pretty numb. “It’s about time for dinner,” Adam, the one who had been calling her, “So you should head to the mess hall. I hear there’s chance of getting pie if you hurry.” With that said, he jogged past her probably to carry out some random errand for one of the professors who had taken a liking to him because of his earnest behaviour and work ethic.

He actually always rushed to get his meal, and then he’d keep it aside and be a gopher for the various staff. Everything from help in grading papers to discussing their strange discoveries and stories.

“Could, could I ask you something?” Pyrrha asked, whispering, expecting and almost hoping that he didn’t hear her. “Sure,” he answered from the end of the hall, “But I’m running some errands, so you’ll have to move about with me.”

“Oh, okay then,” she said as she shyly approached Adam, “So, what kind of errands are we running?”

“I don’t think this counts as an errand!” the world class fighter shouted as she ran fervently in Mr. Port’s Grimm Studies class, closely followed by a Spider Droid. “Are you kidding me?” he responds as he passes by her, “I do this stuff all the time.” As though in response to the bull Faunus’ smug declaration, the Spider Droid delivered a shot from one of its cannons, which sent him flying across the room.

“This really takes me back,” he said, recalling the last fight he had with a Spider Droid. _Seems they’ve improved it since then,_ he thought, noticing that it was much more agile than before. He cursed his luck that Wilt and Blush weren’t with him. He decided to push forward and assist Pyrrha who was engaged with the droid by herself.

He jumped unto the droid’s back, and attempted stabbing into its nape, but the metal menace suddenly began to rotate its upper body, succeeding in throwing Adam off its back causing him to land at Pyrrha’s feet. “How’re you holding up?” he asked from his position on the floor. “Great, actually,” her response too chipper for someone who was fighting a construct of the great Atlesian military.

Pyrrha was always a strange girl; not just because she was extremely talented, not just because she was disciplined and accomplished, but because she was bred for battle. She wasn’t supportive of violence, and tried to avoid it as much as possible, but she found herself feeling ecstasy whenever she was in a fray, because she was good, no great at it.

The Mistral world renowned fighter pulled out Milo’ and rushed at the droid, _THIS, is so much better than talking!_ She thought excitedly.

Back on the roof, Jaune was still standing, thinking deeply; he was actually just thinking about what an idiot he was. He acted like a complete jerk when Pyrrha was only trying to help him out. “I’m such a terrible leader.”

“Can’t argue with that,” came a voice from behind the fourth generation Arc warrior, it was Mercury Black. “Oh, hey Mercury,” Jaune responded uncomfortably; he had always been that way around his grey-haired classmate, he felt that there was something innately scary about him. “I’ll be going now,” Jaune declared seeing that Mercury wasn’t going to proffer any response to his greeting, and unwilling to stew in the awkwardness. “You know, I heard from a little bird that you might know something about fake transcripts.”

Jaune froze on the spot, he hoped desperately that he had misheard the team AMEN member, as he turned around in shock.

“W-What?”

“You know, transcripts, evidence that you graduated from a combat school.”

“Mercury, please you can’t tell anyone this, I _really_ need this to remain secret, no one can know.” Immediately Jaune completed his appeal, Mercury burst into a laughing fit that could only be described as grotesque; it was almost villainous, but at the same time empty, as though the laughter wasn’t there as _just_ laughter, it was just an omen to something much worse.

“I’m sorry,” he said in between bouts, “I just can’t believe that the first thing that comes to your mind is others not finding out.”

“Do you even understand where you are right now?” Mercury asked soberly, and Jaune couldn’t, for the life of him, tell where the boy that laughed himself almost red-faced just now had gone to.

“Excuse me?”

“This is Beacon Academy, it isn’t the set of some dumb coming of age play. Or are you too stupid to understand even that?” 

“I… I understand that,” Jaune said boldly, “I understand that Beacon is no joke, but I’ve decided not to quit, I’m going to become a Hunter and a worthy leader. That’s a promise I’ve made to myself and my team.”

“Promise?” Mercury asked, genuinely confused.

“Yea-” Jaune’s answer was interrupted by a kick to the gut that sent him flying off the roof. Luckily, he was able to deploy his shield and tuck into a roll, landing on a secondary roof.

Mercury wasn’t going to let him get away that easily; he jumped down to Jaune’s level and rushed the team JNPR leader. Jaune stood his ground… for like a second before his body was thrown down once again, this time, he fell into the school’s courtyard, gathering attention from the students who were in the cafeteria at the time.

“You promised that you’d become a great Hunter or something? But I want to know, what happens if I cripple you right here and now? How’re you going to keep your promise then?”

“W-why are you doing this?” Jaune, who was unsuccessfully trying to get up, asked, feeling more confused than he had ever been.

“Because,” Mercury said, grabbing a fistful of blonde hair and leaning in to whisper in his ear, “I hate people like you, weaklings who forget their place.

“Not to mention,” letting go of his hair and beginning a vicious barrage of kicks, “I _love_ it when I get to teach you where you belong.”

Jaune was confused, Mercury had attacked him out of the blue, and he had already knocked the explanation out of Jaune’s head three kicks ago, He was hurting, but there was nothing he could do about it, he could only curl up while Mercury had his way, he could only watch through a swollen eye while Mercury proved that his parents were right in doubting him, that he was too weak to even stand up for himself.

_No!_ he thought angrily, _I’ve done too much to just quit here. I have to get up!_ Surprisingly, his body responded to his commands, his aura began to light up, healing his wounds and strengthening his body. He burst out suddenly, able to push back Mercury, who was carelessly throwing kicks and not paying attention to his opponent. Jaune felt his aura burn brighter than it had ever done, for the first time in a long time, his dreams weren’t just his hopes and fantasies, he actually believed that he could do it. Immediately, he threw a punch at Mercury, the most powerful that he had ever thrown; he channeled all his hopes, fears, frustration and doubt into that punch, hoping, knowing it would communicate all of it better than he ever could.

“Now!” Adam shouted to Pyrrha, who immediately lifted the Spider Droid into the air with her semblance.

“Hurry!” she shouted, the strain of the action evident.

Adam simply smiled as he jumped as he jumped past the Atlesian death machine and turned midair. Nerium Thorn’s blade suddenly exploded with bright red aura, as he swung it at the suspended Spider Droid, effectively dividing it into two.

“What a magnificent aura,” Pyrrha whispered unconsciously amidst the fireworks created by the destruction of the Spider Droid.

“That was…” Adam mused for a proper word once he landed next to his partner.

“Exciting!” interjected Pyrrha.

“Frustrating’s more like it,” Adam responded.

“What was an Atlesian Spider Droid doing in our Grimm Studies class?”

“An important question, but one that can wait till tomorrow don’t you think?” he said as he opened the nearly completely destroyed door for her.

“I thought we set that test pretty well,” said Ozpin who had been watching the entire thing on his personal scroll, alongside Mrs. Goodwitch.

“I didn’t expect him to be able to dispatch it without using his semblance. Though to be fair, Nikos was there with him.”

“We’re in no doubt in for a ride when it comes to Mr, Vulpes.”

In the hallways, Adam and Pyrrha approached the dorms quietly, still a little tired from their earlier scrimmage. “What did you want to ask me again?”

“Oh, that?” she asked, scratching her head embarrassingly, “Kinda embarrassing that I forgot my own question.”

“It happens more often than you’d think.”

“Okay, then. I… wonder what is going in the courtyard,” she said, noticing that something was gathering a crowd there. 

_W-what happened,_ thought Jaune groggily, he was back on the floor, except this time Mercury was on him, humming while he tried to cave his skull in. He suddenly remembered, his punch had landed, but Mercury blocked it easily, and proceeded to punish him for his failed attempt.

The scene was horrible, each punch brought with it the crack of bones, which sent a collective chill down the audience’s spine. What made the scene scarier was the fact that the Mercury that the school knew; the skilled fighter who was always aloof, was nowhere to be found, his presence was that of a beast, it was bloodthirsty and it was feeding its craving. Suddenly, his punches stopped. “Hey, let me let you in on a little secret,” he whispered, “Weaklings don’t _get_ to have anything.”

“No hopes,” as a punch landed.

“No dreams,” as he pushed Jaune’s guard aside and landed another one.

“Nothing! The only thing you’re entitled to is what we give you.”

Suddenly, he turned around to see a streak of red and gold charging at him. “Thanks boss,” he said to Adam who had jumped in front of him to intercept the streak. “Move!” shouted Pyrrha to Adam who had intercepted her.

“Your teammate is wounded,” Adam responded calmly, “You should take him to the infirmary.”

After a few long seconds of staring, she pulled Milo’ away and approached Jaune’s wounded body and picked it up gently.

Pyrrha got all the way to the door of the infirmary, when she felt a tugging at her clothes, it was Jaune.

"Could you put me down, please?" he asked meekly. Pyrrha quickly complied, as she lowered her team leader gently.

"Jaune, what's are you doing," she asked seeing the blonde swordsman getting on his knees.

"Please, Pyrrha," he whispered at her feet, kowtowing fully, "Please, teach me how to fight!" 

The proud Arc warrior shed the last of his pride, perhaps the last thing that was holding him down. 

“What were you thinking?” Adam whispered harshly as Pyrrha left and the crowd dispersed.

“Don’t know,” Mercury said, standing up from his seat on the ground, “I just really hate guys like that.” he said simply while he swaggered back to the dorms. “How did this happen, Emerald?” Adam asked the green-haired girl who had appeared at his side at some point.

“Well… It started with:” 

{I'm back,} Neo signed as she stepped into the room. “What d'you want, Neo?” Mercury asked irritably, though one wouldn’t really notice that next to the bucket of ice cream he was diving into. Neo looked inquisitively at Emerald, confused at his actions.

“Ignore him,” Emerald responded in annoyance, “He’s having a crisis over being irrelevant in this chapter.”

“You don’t get it, you haven’t been relevant in _any_ chapter, so you aren’t bothered since you’ve never been important to the plot.” Emerald simply rolled her eyes, although she _was_ upset by this fact.

{I found a way to get into the plot,} Neo signed as she smiled victoriously

“Really?”

“But didn’t the author say that this chapter was for Jaune, and to give him some seriously needed development, although the exact same thing happens in the show. Fanfiction as a genre is already unoriginal, who’d have thought this author could make it even more uncreative.”

{Yes, this chapter is for Jaune, that’s why we’re going to do exactly what the author intends; we're going to develop Jaune.}

“How do you mean?”

Neo proceeds to tell them the information she got from eavesdropping on Jaune and Pyrrha. Immediately after hearing/seeing this, Mercury dashed out of the room, looking for Jaune. Emerald made to follow him, but Neo held her back.

“How come he gets to go and I don’t?”

{Because your presence makes no sense in the plot.}  
“And Mercury’s does?”

{Mercury’s presence makes perfect sense. Considering his backstory which this author will probably forget to explore.}

“What happened to defying the author and hijacking the plot?”

{It still has to make sense, or people will stop reading it, though}

Emerald simply hmphed angrily in response to being sidelined from the main plot once more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES  
> Apologies once more for the lateness of the chapter, but from this you can expect the chapters to be updated bi-weekly. Although it may be more.  
> Some of you are wondering why Pyrrha says: “What a wonderful aura” rather than “What a powerful semblance” or something. That’s because I’ve retconned Adam’s ability, I know it’s an iconic part of the character, but it serves the story better in my opinion.


	4. FOREVER FALL PART 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be a bit shorter than average.

“Please train me!” Jaune pleaded, on his hands and knees, his eyelids nearly letting his tears break through. “Get some rest,” Pyrrha responded as she pulled her friend to his feet. The redhead’s statement made Jaune realise that he was tired, really tired, and with this realisation, his knees gave him and he fell, Rest, I could use some rest.   
The next morning, at about 4am, the team JNPR leader was woken up by an ice-cold bucket of water. The cold shock made him jump out of his bed suddenly. “Good morning,” Pyrrha said pleasantly to Jaune. “Oh hey, Pyrrha,” he responded in confusion, “Did you… happen to see a bucket of water lying about anywhere?”   
“No,” Pyrrha answered innocently, “Did you lose yours?”   
“Oh, just forget it.”   
“Follow me,” she said with a small smile as she walked with him and led him to one of the training rooms. A few seconds later, a bucket which was held up by Pyrrha’s semblance fell to the floor.   
“Welcome to Pyrrha’s combat school,” she said jokingly, “You said you wanted me to train you right?”  
“Pyrrha,” Jaune said, surprised, as he approached the Sanctum Academy alumni, “Tha-” His thanks were interrupted by a strike to the chest which sent him stumbling back unto his butt. “From the moment you step into this room, remember that you are to be ready, no slacking off, no letting your guard down, no jokes. Listen to every word I say, and no interruptions.”  
“I understand,” Jaune said seriously.  
“Okay then,” she responded happily, “The first thing to get out of the way is aura and semblances, apparently the author plans to rewrite it, again.”   
“Aura, is the manifestation of one’s soul. It protects us and bears our burdens. The nature of aura is fairly complicated, but I’ll try to explain it as best I can. Aura has two distinct natures: a passive nature and an active one. It’s passive in the sense that it’s always there once unlocked, and there are certain abilities one possesses always. For example, someone who has unlocked their aura will exhibit heightened perception, increased strength, reflexes speed and so on, also they can use their semblances. One’s aura can be as signature as one’s appearance or scent, as one can identify you from your aura. Although it can actively be manipulated to hide, or exaggerate one’s character, intentions and so on.”   
“The active nature of aura refers to something known as Battle State. The same way a person’s heartbeat rises during activity or with the presence of danger, one’s aura also changes from its passive coat, to a more armour-like coating either consciously or subconsciously with the threat of danger. In this state, all abilities exhibited during while the aura is passive, increase exponentially, but it is draining and one needs to practice aura control and have a lot of stamina to use it for any substantial time For example, a friendly person generally has an approachable presence as a result of their aura, and malicious intentions can be manifested in one’s aura if they do not actively attempt to conceal it. In other words, a person’s ‘presence’ is both active and passive as it is always there, but can be altered or supressed.”   
“Moving on to semblances,” she continued, not noticing that Jaune had something he wanted to say, “A semblance is an ability that is tied to an individual’s aura and usually unique to the person. Meaning it’s hardly hereditary, though there are some exceptions, like in the case of the Schnee family. A semblance is also of two types.”   
“Firstly, there is what is commonly called a rudimentary semblance, these are abilities that can be gained from mastery of aura, such as enhanced speed, aura manifestations etc. It is possible to use these abilities with a good enough mastery of one’s aura.”   
“Secondly, there are mystic semblances which can’t be gained simply from mastery of aura, the Schnee family’s glyphs or my polarity are perfect examples. No one truly understands these semblances, but they are often attributed to tales of magic and that people with some sort of connection with ancient magic have these mystic abilities.”   
“Okay, any questions?” Pyrrha asked after her lengthy speech.   
“Uh, you know I went to combat school. I know all of this already,” he said slightly amused.   
“Pyrrha?” he asked, seeing that the redhead had bent over, he walked towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked as she turned up to Jaune, her eyes tearing up due to embarrassment. “Well you said ‘no interruptions’,” he laughed.  
“This was my first attempt at teaching and I blew it,” she said, looking more and more depressed.  
“In any case, we’re both new to this. Baby steps maybe?”  
“Yeah,” she said as she stood up, “Baby steps.”

A few hours later, the two walked out of the training room, Pyrrha’s bright disposition contrasted deeply with Jaune’s exhausted gait. Pyrrha turned a corner just to see Mercury and the rest of team AMEN outside their dorm room door.   
She pulled out Milo’, ready to engage, although she did note that it was strange that they were all bowing in the direction of the door. “Hey Pyrrha, what’s up?” Jaune asked as he turned the corner, tensing up on seeing Mercury and his team at their door.   
Immediately Jaune arrived, team AMEN turned in his direction, bowing. “I’m sorry!” Mercury said earnestly, bowing even deeper than the others. “I have no excuse for my earlier conduct, but I hope you can forgive me for it.”   
“Of course,” Jaune responded, disallowing Pyrrha her ‘less than polite’ response, “We’re guys, stuff like this just happens sometimes, no hard feelings.” This response apparently set Mercury at ease, as he retreated with the rest of his team, which more and more apologies.   
“You wouldn’t see it from his usually airheaded demeanour,” Adam stated after they had departed from Jaune and Pyrrha, “But he’s someone who’ll lie without so much as blinking if it means he can achieve what he wants.”   
“Yeah,” Emerald added amusedly, “But you’d think he’d be even a little more convincing than that, seeing as he got into Beacon by lying.”  
“In other words,” Mercury said, “There was no point in coming here.”   
“Either way, we know a little more about him now. Knowledge is never a waste.”   
“I guess so,” Mercury replied dryly.   
“What were you thinking?” Pyrrha asked angrily as the two stepped into the dorm room.   
“Pyrrha, listen,” he said calmly, “Whether I forgive him or not is irrelevant.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“He knows that I got into Beacon using fake transcripts. In other words, he has leverage. The fact that he still came to apologise means that he’s probably not going to give that information out, meaning that whether I forgive him or not, I have to make him believe that I do.”  
“I-I understand,” Pyrrha responded calmly after Jaune had explained everything to her, “Either way, I’m going to take a shower.”  
“Pyrrha,” the fourth generation Arc warrior said as he held Pyrrha’s hand, causing her to pause, “I know after all the stupid things I said and did, I don’t deserve your help. So, thank you, it means a lot to me that you’d do this for me, that you believe in me this much.”  
“Jaun-” Pyrrha’s sentence was interrupted by a pillow hitting her square in the face.  
“We’re trying to sleep here,” Nora, the one responsible for the pillow, said shouted sleepily.  
“Sorry about that,” Pyrrha apologised, as she headed for the shower.  
“Ever notice those two sleep together?”  
“Yeah,” she whispered back to Jaune, “I just thought it’d be impolite to ask.”

Through a lonely, dark wood, the fragmented shown, barely putting a dent into the copious darkness. With the sparse lighting, one would think that the darkness was alive, and they’d be right. The darkness moved forward, marched forward, charged forward, and it took the shape of beasts; of wolves, of bears, of boars, their chilling roars and growls and bellows eclipsing any other sound in the ghastly forest. They had the appearance of beasts, but they were much worse; their bright eyes did nothing but enforce their dark presence.  
The darkness was known as the creatures of Grimm, enemies of humanity for as long as anyone could recall. The hoard of the most fearsome creatures in Remnant ran, they were running… away from a girl in pink ?  
“Here’s Nora!” shouted the girl as she bounded with her great Warhammer and descended on the fleeing hoard whose chilling growls and roars had started to sound more like frightened yips and whimpers. The entire hoard seemed to dissolve once she landed amongst them. The inky flood that resulted rushed forward, as though it was also fleeing from the fearsome girl.  
The flood of darkness suddenly stopped, and began to churn and merge. From the darkness stood several human figures, with what seemed to be Grimm masks. Nora, who was still in hot pursuit, suddenly halted. She collapsed to her knees on seeing the hybrid-like creatures, the same girl who had just chased down a hoard of Grimm was cowering before these masked men, grasping her hammer frailly.  
Suddenly, hands grasped her from behind, pulling her into the darkness of the forest as she screamed and kicked in her terror.  
“Nora!” shouted Ren, who was holding her from behind, and rocking her desperately, “It’s okay.” Nora’s frenzy was ended with a gentle tune the brunette hummed into her ear, her body slowing becoming laxer and laxer in his arms.  
“What happened?” asked Pyrrha and Jaune who had just finished their training and barged into the room. “Well,” Ren sighed, as he lay Nora back down to sleep, “She’s been having this recurring dream.”

“Men with faces of Grimm?” Pyrrha asked as she and Nora cued for their breakfast.  
“Yeah,” Nora answered spritely, apparently excited by the food, “I’ve been having the dream for ages, nothing to worry about.” Nora’s reassurance did nothing to allay Pyrrha’s worries.  
“Is that why you two sleep together?” she whispered with the realisation, “Because of the nightmares?”  
“That’s part of it I guess,” Nora said as she stacked her tray up high, “Though that kinda started because it took up the least space and we could keep each other warm.”  
Pyrrha gave Nora an empathetic look, although she decided not to pry because although they were teammates, they weren’t all that close.  
Clang, the sound of tray falling to the ground knocked Pyrrha out of her thoughts. “Everything okay?” asked Ren who was next to Jaune when he dropped his tray. “Yeah,” he said after a few seconds, absentmindedly, “I must not have been paying attention, is all.” You know, you’re a terrible liar, thought Ren, although he didn’t voice his thoughts, since he and Jaune weren’t all that close.  
“Is everything okay?” Pyrrha asked worriedly, as she walked up to Jaune.  
“Yeah, though I think I’m going to head to the infirmary, I’m not feeling all that well.”  
“Oh, okay then. I’ll take notes for you.” Pyrrha called out to his departing figure.

“Dust,” shouted Mr. Oobleck, “By far Remnant’s most important resource. We use it in our weapons, in our homes, at some point or another, it is present in every facet of our lives.”  
“But,” he added after a pause, “How much do we really know about dust? It’s origins till this day, unknown, mere speculation. And that’s what we’re here to study as disciples of history, after all, most of history is mere speculation about what was. Moving on, many tales, poems and epics have been written to explain the existence of this magical resource.”  
“In fact,” he declared, “Many ancient works that would have been considered irrelevant in history have earned their place in Remnant’s largest museums because they made allusions and references, albeit vague, to the origin of dust.”  
“The most common explanation is one that speaks of an ancient civilisation that went to war against some ancient pantheon or another, wielding the power of magic, some profess this ancient civilisation’s victory while other speak of their loss, although that is a small point, the important thing is that almost all agree that the world was scarred and devastated and that from this tragedy, dust was born.”  
“Would anyone like to expand on this? With at least one historical document to support this, of course.”  
“Well,” a student, seated at the back responded, “Many historical texts speak on the origins of dust, but the oldest and one of the most important of all these is a tragic poem named ‘The Soliloquy’ which I’ll read with your permission:  
I talked to myself in a tower high  
Till he came and he whisked me away  
I was ensnared by his charm and his beautiful smile  
But I should’ve known that he wouldn’t stay  
But still, I grasped the cold shell of the man I loved  
I trekked and made offerings and implored the gods  
But they laughed  
And I scorned them and cursed them  
But they laughed…”  
“Linguists and pragmatists have made attempts to translate the following part of the text, but it’s still unconfirmed, do I have your permission to skip to parts of the poem that have been confirmed.”  
The student continued on seeing Professor Oobleck nod of approval:  
“The fractured moon, scarred beyond recognition  
Could no longer keep the darkness at bay  
They blocked out the Sun and claimed the horizon  
A shower of dust fell down from the skies  
As a stream of tears fell from my eyes  
I waited for the gods’ laughter, but it never came  
And so, I walked on my own and I talked to myself once again.”  
“Excellent!” exclaimed the green haired professor, “Of course, that is a romanticised version of the actual poem, but it still serves the purpose of this class. Now, who can tell me some of the important inferences that can be made from this poem.”  
The same student who had just answered the previous question raised his hand as he stood up to speak again. “Several inferences other than the obvious mention of dust can be made from this poem.”  
“Firstly, the line that mentions a ‘fractured moon’ implies that the moon is now different from how it once was, this is supported by works like Sonja Frost’s ‘Beautiful Moon’ which describes the moon as a ‘silver hole in the sky’.”  
“Also, the lines that speak of a ‘darkness’ likely refer to the emergence of the creatures of Grimm. Lastly, the writer speaks of gods whom apparently laughed at her, but could not be heard after the tragedy, which gives credence to some writers’ claims of the ancient pantheon being driven away by the ancient civilisation.”  
“Keep this up and you may just get my job,” Professor Oobleck praised, “Mr…?”  
“Oh no,” the student responded, “I don’t have a name, the author thought it’d be more organic if someone besides the main cast participated in the class, so he wrote me in.”  
“Then why didn’t he give you a name or a description, because quite frankly, you look like a background character from Volume One.”  
“Well, giving a character a name and a description is a sort of promise to the readers that the character will appear more, and the author doesn’t really have a place in the story for me, and doesn’t want it to seem as though he forgot me if I don’t appear in the future.”  
“That makes sense,” Professor Oobleck noted, “Either way, this conversation will continue later during the field trip to Vale’s own Blutvesten Mines once the period is over.”  
“Actually,” Adam raised his hand, “That’s scheduled for a few weeks from today, today’s activity is the trip to Forever Fall.”  
“Is that so Mr. Vulpes? In that case…” Mr. Oobleck ran out of the classroom frantically, neglecting to finish his sentence.  
“And that’s how to get a free period!” shouted Adam as soon as Mr. Oobleck left.  
“How come Professor Oobleck blitzed out of the class like that?” asked Ruby who had, at some point, ended up beside him.  
“Because he thinks that he booked a tour of the mines with the Valerian History Conservation Association today.”  
“He thinks he did?”  
“Yeah, I noticed the mistake a couple weeks ago when I was sorting some of his files, and I already called them to reschedule.”  
“Then why did you allow him to run around trying to fix it?”  
“Because, that way he gets his morning exercise and we get a free period.”  
“Oh no,” Ruby said, trying to dash away, knowing ‘free period’ meant ‘more training’ in Adamspeak. Adam held her by her hood and dragged her to one of the training rooms.  
Meanwhile, Jaune wandered the halls aimlessly, he grabbed his hand, noticing that it was shaking, This doesn’t make any sense, the team JNPR leader thought, It’s been two weeks since then. “Hello, Mr. Arc,” came the gentle voice of Principal Ozpin, “Shouldn’t you be in class right about now?”  
“Oh. Yes, I’m supposed to be in class,” he responded confusedly, “But, could I talk to you for a bit?”  
“Very well, follow me to my office.”

“So Mr. Arc,” he said as he passed a cup of coffee to him, “What seems to be the problem?”  
“It’s, it’s dumb, I can’t understand it, but I got into a fight with Mercury a couple weeks back.”  
“I heard, you took quite the beating,” Ozpin commented, earning a rueful smile from Jaune.  
“Either way, he apologised, we patched things up, and I’ve been training with Pyrrha ever since and I’m stronger.”  
“Yes, I noticed, I’m rather impressed with your growth.”  
“But, I don’t know, I saw Mercury today, somehow, we managed to avoid each other these past two weeks, but he wasn’t doing anything serious, Weiss Schnee was just apologising to him I think… but it shocked me.”  
“What exactly shocked you, Mr. Arc?”  
“His smile, how quickly that smile was able to transform to something sadistic while we fought, how he was able to turn from friend to foe. And I thought, ‘What if he suddenly turns on me again?’ What do I do then? I know I’m not ready to face him.”  
“So, what do you intend to do about it, Mr. Arc?”  
“I know I’m not ready to face him, at least not at the rate I’m going, but I’m ready to do whatever it takes. I’m asking if I can still go to Shade Academy.”  
The grey-haired principal simply sipped his coffee in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys know that I’m in the middle of exams, so no updating for now, but I still thought I should at least deliver on last week’s chapter.  
> As you can see, this chapter is mostly for worldbuilding, and to flesh out Nora and Ren, although that’s until the next part of this chapter. Any questions about my take on semblances and aura are welcomed and I’ll try to read and answer all of them as swiftly as possible.  
> Either way, ciao! I


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've never really thought of Cardin as a racist, simply a bully. But what if he was?

Adam walked out one of the training rooms with a small smile on his face, Ruby had clearly improved, she still couldn’t land a single hit, but she had improved.

“Well if it isn’t Adam Taurus,” a nearly drunk drawl from behind him. Adam’s good mood was suddenly ruined, the fact that he was tackled to the wall didn’t help any either. “You’re a hard man to get information on.”

“Qrow,” Adam said to the man who had him up against the wall.

“You know me?” asked the former Branwen tribesman. Adam simply smiled in response, _It seems he doesn’t remember me._ “Listen here you littte s-” 

“Adam,” said Emerald who had been scanning the hallways for their team leader, “Principal Ozpin wants to speak with you.” “I’ll be there soon,” he responded over Qrow, “Just need to deal with something here.”

Emerald’s eyes narrowed dangerously, {Anything we should be worried about?} Emerald asked using her semblance, [Hallucinations]. That was the major reason she was part of this team, her semblance enabled for seamless, untraceable communication between members, although it was only one-way. Adam simply shook his head in response, “You heard the lady, march up to the Principal’s office, but we’re _not_ finished here.” The last part of the sentence was said with viscous killing intent.

Adam simply dusted off his coat and walked swiftly, yet composedly to the elevator leading to the Principal’s office.

“Mr. Taurus,” Ozpin greeted warmly once he stepped into the office.

Adam hummed a response as he sat comfortably before the grey-haired Principal and his assistant.

“Not surprised?” asked Ozpin lightly.

“Not really,” he said as he pulled off his mask, “It’s not an elaborate disguise. I’m actually surprised that I wasn’t found out sooner.” Glynda’s gaze shot down suddenly, she was clearly uncomfortable looking at the Faunus’ scar even though she had seen it before.

“Well you haven’t much of a reputation outside Menagerie, and _too_ much of one within it.”

“Some describe you as an eight foot tall brute, with horns of fire, some say you look like Inuwa himself.” Glynda commented, still subtly avoiding his face, “Needless to say, neither description is accurate.”

“We’ve actually known for several weeks,” Ozpin added, “You’ve been under very strict surveillance for most of your stay here. As I’m sure you’ve noticed.” He had, but was unbothered by it since the spies drew their boundaries at their dorm rooms.

“Why confront me on it now though?”

“Today,” Glynda began, “Is your fieldtrip to Forever Fall. As you know, it will be one with minimal staff supervision. We’re not sure what your intentions are, and you have given us no reasons to suspect you thus far.”

“However,” Ozpin continued with a now hardened gaze, “Just in case your plan is something idiotic like threatening my students, I decided that it’d be best for you to know that we are ‘aware’ of you.”

Glynda’s poker face was messed up completely by Adam’s response: laughter. “I apologise,” Adam responded after a few seconds, “You need not worry about something like that, despite what you may have heard in some rumours, I’m not some monster who drinks the blood of his enemies. It’d be stupid of me to attack any students especially since any such attempt will probably be unsuccessful.”

“I know that much,” Ozpin responded, his bespectacled eyes staring straight into Adam’s; apparently not even fazed by the ghastly scar. “You’re a soldier, something that is much more troubling. I read some of the reports of the Mena Massacre.” This earned him a small flinch from the former White Fang leader who had been rather stoic.

“You already know this, but the victims were mutilated beyond recognition. Apparently out of some deep animus towards the human race,” Ozpin inched closer to Adam as he spoke, “Personally, I feel that the perpetrator, whomever he is, didn’t do it out of hatred, neither was he deranged. Instead, he wasted dozens of people _and_ devastated their corpses just to send some sort of message. A monster would have simply killed them, but a soldier… is much scarier don’t you think?”

“I’d have to agree,” Qrow said as he walked into the office.

“You’re late,” Glynda rebuked.

“Sorry, those br-” the red-eyed Huntsman stopped his sentence midway on seeing Adam.

“Hey Uncle Qrow,” Adam said snidely, on noticing that Qrow had now recognised him. 

Adam walked briskly out of the elevator, and just nearly ran into Ruby who had been waiting outside for him. “Oh,” she yelped, “Neo told me to get you. Or at least told Emerald to tell me to get you. He he.”

“Thanks,” he responded dryly, “All ready for the fieldtrip?”

“Yup,” she said, trying her best to sound cute, “Cou-”

“No, you can’t ride with me on the bullhead,” he cut in, “You have a team _and_ a partner, you need to interact with them, you can’t just keep avoiding them.”

“I don’t avoid _all_ of them,” she responded, kicking the floor.

“The Schnee is your partner, if anything, you need _her_ the most.”

“Fine,” she shouted poutingly, “I didn’t want to go with you anyway.”

“Enjoy your trip too,” he chuckled after the red blur that was running away from him.

 _There’s something different about him,_ Ruby thought as she turned her head while she ran away from the bull Faunus. _Maybe it’s just me,_ she muses on failing to identify any changes with Adam. _Did she really not notice?_ Adam asked himself as he ran his hand through his bright, windswept hair that was no longer covered by his mask.

“You mean he’s possibly associated with Raven?” Glynda questioned.

“I’m sure you heard me the first time,” came Qrow’s irritated reply.

“Now, now, play nice you two,” Ozpin mediated amusedly as he took a sip from his mug, “Do you think she sent him?”

“Doubt it,” he grumbled back, “But of course I’ll check him out either way.”

On the bullhead, students sat next to their partners comfortably, with the exception of team JNPR because they were missing their team leader, according to Glynda, he was last seen talking with the Principal, so they weren’t worried about his absence.

The trip didn’t take that long, and the students dropped in the northwestern region of the very expansive forest. The students filed out of the aircraft happily, excited that they’d be able to participate in an activity away from Glynda’s oppressive gaze. “Watch it!” came a shout from the front of the crowd of students.

“I’m sorry,” responded a tanned boy with a pair of dog ears, shakily to Cardin Winchester, whom he had just collided with.

“No problem,” says Cardin who bends over to pick him up.

“Are you okay?” asks Blake who was at the back of the crowd, “I heard everything.”

“Oh, it w-was nothing,” answered the boy who was clearly still shaken from the earlier encounter.

The black-haired broad with a bow took a second to take in the beauty of Forever Fall. This beautiful expanse of red leaves was the start, and end, of so many things. They called it Forever Fall, but wasn’t autumn the season of change? Perhaps it was that knowledge that inspired her, gave her the strength to leave that day.

* * *

Adam had just been appointed General and his first charge was to establish a branch in Vale. It had been about three years since the White Fang had raised their red flag, and the new face of freedom had spread aggressively throughout the borders of Menagerie. Remnant saw the White Fang as terrorists, zealots who fought against Human occupation, but the Faunus of Menagerie saw them as heroes, a light of freedom that would deliver the long-yearned-for equality between Humans and Faunus. The White Fang, seen as a Faunus illuminative, decided to spread this light to the rest of Remnant. Naturally, the organisation had many imitators, admirers that donned the uniform and went out in protests and rallies and raids in the name of the peace the White Fang sought, but these were mere sects, groups without unity or order, it was Adam’s responsibility to bring this order in Vale.

Forever Fall was the base of the White Fang’s Vale operations while Adam was still in charge, it was an expansive forest that cut through most of the kingdom. Industrialisation of the great wood was hindered by the abundance of the creatures of Grimm and this made it convenient for the just over a dozen elites of the White Fang led by Adam to operate and slowly penetrate the city with minimum interference. The Grimm were a hassle, but not as much of an issue as nosy Huntsmen.

The thorough preparations that had been made for these were part of the reason that the entire camp was shocked when three humans walked straight in with neigh a warning from the scouts. Adam cautiously approached the group; they were clearly strong. “No need to bare your fangs gentlemen,” the apparent leader of the group, a black-haired lady whose allure was matched only by her dangerous aura said jokingly. Some White Fang members groaned from the lack of creativity of the joke, Adam might’ve too, but he was too busy observing the group. “Gonna invite us in?” asked the grey-haired youth that accompanied her.

“Of course,” Adam responded tersely as he led them into his tent. The Humans left not long after, although the effect their presence had brought didn’t. 

“What did they want?” Blake asked, her worry clear even behind her Grimm mask.

“Nothing we need to bother ourselves with,” he said dismissively, while signaling two of his subordinates and ordering them to follow the group of humans, “Let’s get moving! You all have fifteen minutes to pack up.”

“You too,” he said to his mentee, “We have an early morning tomorrow.”

“Perfect,” Adam said, almost sinisterly, after the two had just cleaved through the Atlesian Knights that guarded the SDC shipment they were aboard, “Move up to the next car. _I’ll_ set the charges.” 

“What about the crew members?” Blake’s response to Adam’s order came in the form of a question, a fearful question.

“What about them?”

“They’re not _all_ bad, there’s definitely at least one faunus with them, we can’t just leave them to die in the explosion.”

“What would you have us do?” asked Adam, furiously trying to rub the tiredness out of his eyes from behind his, he hadn’t gotten any sleep, again. “Cut the car they’re in or throw them off the train so that the Grimm who are most likely already approaching the train due to the crew’s negativity can finish them off? Or perhaps take them back to our camp that isn’t equipped to take care of that many hostages.” His tirade had left the already shy cat Faunus mute, regretting her decision to speak up.

“I’m sorry,” he said in his softer, ‘mentor’ voice, “But this is war. People die; innocent, guilty, it doesn’t matter. We’ll save who we can without jeopardizing our mission, but the mission, the cause our comrades have fought and died for comes first. Move up to the next car, I’ll set the charges.”

Adam’s repetition of the order was a lot gentler than his initial command, perhaps it was the gentleness of his order or the tiredness behind it that gave Blake the courage to speak, when she would usually bottle it up and keep quiet. “I-” The SDC had different plans that allowing her pour out her heart apparently, as her sentence was interrupted by a huge mechanical construct that blew the two freedom fighters out of the car they were in and unto another one. “Buy me some time!” he shouted at his partner who nodded and rushed at the Spider-droid.

* * *

She turned towards her teammates and wondered if this was truly the freedom she had set out for; a spoiled racist leader, an apathetic partner and her bumbling sister. She turned towards her mentor, a man who she had both feared and admired since their first meeting, a man… whose horns were no longer hidden under his disguise.

Blake was not the only one who noticed, cementing Ruby’s ‘oblivious’ status. The pair of black horns drew stares from many students, who were surprised that their class rep had suddenly grown them. Adam walked boldly, more boldly than he had in several weeks. It was nice to get some air up there, especially in Forever Fall’s cool breeze. _Forever Fall, it’s been a long time._

* * *

The rose petals that blanketed the entire area, replacing the Spider-droid that had been attacking an instant ago, blew away in the wind as Adam sheathed Wilt. He turned around to search for Blake… and found her on the car that the two had just left.

“Bye,” Blake said simply, as she cut through the joints, separating the two cars. Adam was shocked, he didn’t do anything as watched her quivering amber eyes drift away from him. Except he did, because it’d be pretty asinine to simply let her go when he could get her pretty easily. He bounded unto the other car easily, landing a few metres away from his partner who was an apparent deserter. “What’re you doing?” he asked sternly his eyes boring into her from behind the Grimm mask.

Blake’s mouth opened and closed dumbly as though she was unsure of what to say. “I asked you a question, soldier!”

“I-I’m not a soldier,” she responded, Adam’s bark apparently giving her courage to speak, “I’m not ready for this!”

“Your first kill,” Adam stated knowingly, frustrated at having not noticed it in her earlier, “It was unavoidable, I already told you, people die in w-”

“I didn’t sign up for war,” she cut in loudly, before continuing in a near-whisper, “I signed up for protests and handing out fliers. Not for gutting families with a smile on my face.”

“You know there are sessions for this, it’s a hard thing for everyone to do,” he said approaching her gently, “No one expects you to just forget it and keep on like normal. I understand if you want to go back to your former duties for the time being.”

“I don’t know _if_ what we’re doing is right,” she whispered, halting Adam’s approach towards her, “Before, I was content to watch it and tell myself that I wasn’t a part of the bloodshed, but after what happened… what I did, I can no longer lie to myself.”

“I understand, you want freedom...” he responded gravely, as he took a battle stance, “…However, freedom must be fought for.”

“Freedom must be fought for,” Blake echoed his statement, a revered mantra within the White Fang, as she pulled out Gambol shroud.

“You haven’t a shot against me.”

“We’ll see,” she said as she charged her mentor before he could even unsheathe his blade. The Faunus general jumped backwards before her blade could hit, but was pulled back when she latched her chain-sickle to his leg. Pulling his blade out a second before she nailed him with her cleaver, he saved himself from the embarrassment of being one-shot by his student.

“I’d say I have more than a shot against you,” she mocked while spinning around her former trainer, “You haven’t slept in days. You haven’t made time to train since you became General. You’re exhausted from the fight we just had… and I have your number.”

The wink she punctuated the last part of her sentence with was the last straw for Adam, he sheathed Wilt and landed a flurry of punches on her before propelling the blade into her midriff and sending her flying. “You’re awfully chatty tod-” his stopped his sentence midway to shoot at the Grimm that had been sneaking towards Blake’s fallen form. It was an an Occultum, a reptile-like Grimm that blended into its surroundings. The shot felled the beast, and prompted the rest of its lounge to discard their camouflage. The pair, who had been in the middle of a fray just moments ago, found themselves back to back once more.

“You should run,” he said to her in a whisper.

“W-what?”

“You were deserting the White Fang and before I could take you in for questioning, we were attacked by a Grimm hoard, serving as enough of a distraction for you to make off with the target.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s a good story isn’t it?”

“It, it is thank you.”

“Keep in mind that if you ever see me again, you should run as I’m likely there to kill you,” he stated sinisterly

“Leave your mask behind though,” he added, almost as an afterthought, “It’s a _soldier's_ mask.” With her mask gone, she had nothing to hide the hurt in her amber eyes at his statement, he either didn’t notice or didn’t care as he charged up his blade with his burning red aura.

Adam walked into the new camp hours later, exhausted and, though he was clearly lighter than he had been on setting out.

“What took you so long?” queried a petit girl with a Grimm-themed cowl, once he stepped into his tent.

“There were… complications,” he answered tersely.

“Obviously,” commented a huge man who leaned against one of the tent’s poles, “Where’s the Belladonna girl?”

“That’s-”

“Complicated?” suggested the petit girl, earning an annoyed smile from Adam.

The two ‘guests’ were General Sheena and Banesaw, the leaders of the White Fang’s Atlas and Vacuo operations respectively.

“I can’t believe that she talked us into this,” Sheena stated in frustration.

“Allying with humans is nothing new, so long as they’re useful enough.”

“Never on this scale though,” Banesaw injected, “We’re going to lose many men.”

Following the grave statement, there were sounds of explosions in the camp that made the three generals storm out of the tent.

“What is this?” Banesaw queried angrily on seeing their soldiers spread out on the floor of the camp beneath a human’s feet.

We could’ve gone to anyone for help,” Cinder, the human in question answered, as she strutted towards the trio, ”Our plan could be beneficial to both of us, or just one of us.”

Her speech evoked a bark of laughter from Adam, a hysterical fit, that earned an ‘oh no’ look from his two co-generals and a confused one from the humans. He was hardly done chortling his head off when he rushed at Cinder with Wilt. Banesaw and Sheena followed suit, the latter throwing in an exasperated sigh before charging at Emerald with Nerium Thorn.

Adam and Cinder’s brawl made its way to the other side of the camp. Adam had the upper hand since he had initiated the fray unexpectedly. Nevertheless, she was a skilled warrior and she would be able to turn the tide, is what she told herself. Despite the protests from his exhausted body and drained aura, the red-haired general pushed his speed to its limits, trying to drown his opponent in the wave of terrifying stabs and slashes.

His plan was effective, as Cinder’s graceful parries and blocks grew increasingly frantic with each new kata he engaged. The full stop was a vicious kick the sultry Huntress took straight to her face, causing her to drop her weapons. Adam stalked her fallen body and aimed to land a final blow.

The fray between the other pairs was cut short by Adam’s frame being flung towards them, Cinder followed, albeit not as quickly since she was walking not ‘flying’. The lady was livid, her eye and body glowing mystically as she aimed for a final shot of her own.

“That’s enough Cinder,” came the voice of a giant whose grand physique eclipsed even Banesaw’s. “Hazel… sir,” she said responded meekly to the man who was apparently called Hazel, “What are you doing here? I already promised to take of this, you needn’t have bothered yourself with coming.”

“ _She_ was worried that you would not be able to handle a situation this… delicate,” he put his response on hold to exam the destroyed White Fang camp and the combatants who had taken his arrival as an opportunity to regroup. “It would seem that her worries were not unfounded.”

Cinder opened her mouth to object, but had no opportunity to do so as he simply walked past her and towards Adam. “Young man,” he said gently “Your men aren’t dead, but they _will_ die if they aren’t given appropriate medical care.”

“We have access to that care and are willing to offer it as a… peace offering, along with something more,” he said as he tilted his head towards the cases of pure dust Cinder had brought grumpily, “As a show of our sincerity in this partnership.”

“I’m sure you are averse to the idea of working under us, dying for a cause that isn’t yours, but we ensure you that we always keep our partner’s best interests in mind. Think about it this way; wouldn’t you rather your men die working together with a force that can propel your cause further or die now, having accomplished nothing?”

“You have no reason to fight us, the risk greatly outweighs the reward, the White Fang is strong in Menagerie, but Vale is much different, we have the resources and means through which you can achieve all you seek and more.”

“Do we have a deal Mr. Taurus?” Hazel asked finally, smiling slightly as the younger man shook his outstretched hand.

* * *

_Not long enough,_ he thought irritably, at both Blake and the humans. He had told her that he understood, but he had been lying; he could understand her doubts and the inner conflict it must have ensued within the young Faunus. He could not however, understand how the conclusion she came to was running away, to do nothing and hope that even if she left her people to perish, she would feel better about herself.

He would have killed her himself or left her to perish in the flood of Grimm, but the complications it would ensue would be too much to handle; the princess of Menagerie perishing on a run of the mill mission wasn’t something that would be without consequences. Taking her in would also be more complicated as he would have to escort her back to Menagerie for a trial that bureaucracy could stretch out infinitely and he could not afford to leave Vale at such a crucial time. Letting her go was the only practical course of action, warning her had been merely a courtesy, as if he actually came after her, running wouldn’t help any.

 _I expected the stink eye, but shouldn’t she have let up by now?_ He thought as he stole a glance at Emerald who had been glaring daggers at him since they got on the bullhead, him ignoring the messages she sent using [Hallucinations] didn’t help either.

{Why is he brazenly showing his horns?} The green-haired thief vented through one of her illusions to Mercury, as they harvested sap away from Adam and Neo. {Cinder was very specific about him hiding his identity as a Faunus.}

“This much is to be expected,” he responded while discreetly sneaking a taste of the candy-like tree essence.

“What do you mean?” she asked, no longer bothering with [Hallucinations].

“Remember when we first met him? He was all about answering to no one, he’s a prideful man who was basically bullied into this ‘partnership’. Even if he doesn’t do anything drastic for the sake of his men, he’s bound to rebel from time to time.”

“You’re surprisingly aware of others.”

“Knowing a man is sometimes instrumental to killing him,” he whispered to her, as he waved at team WRBY who were walking past them.

“What did you call us out for?” Yang said irritably as the three girls walked behind their small leader. Weiss suddenly turned around with a penitent look towards her teammates, “I’m sorry,” she said to them genuinely, “I know that our team has not been operating as a unit, and I acknowledge my fault in that, I hope that you can forgive me and we can work to overcome our issues together, as a team.”

The three girls were suspicious; despite her sincerity, her choice of words were reminiscent of an SDC advertisement. Either way, Yang was the first to give her an olive branch; “See,” she said as she rubbed her knuckle into Weiss’ hair, “I told you she was cool. She might be racist and talk like a dust ad, but she’s cool all the same.”

“What?” she responded, freeing herself from Yang’s armpit, “I’ll have you know that all members of the Schnee Dust Company welcome everyone regardless of their race, creed or political inclination.”

“Now I _know_ I’ve seen that ad before,” Ruby giggled as she joined Yang beside Weiss. The group of three looked at Blake expectantly, hoping she’d welcome the chance of unity. Before she could speak, her bow twitched, it seemed she heard something.

Deeper in the forest, a tan dog Faunus was on the ground, surrounded by team Cardin, Russell and Dove. “Hey pal,” Cardin said as he bent over the Faunus, holding a small vial in his hand, “Know what this is?” The terrified Faunus managed a shake of his head as an answer.

“This,” he said like a teacher in a class, “Is Slytherin venom. Now, if you paid attention in Grimm Studies, you know that Slytherins are a very small snake-like Grimm related to the King Taijitu, only difference is, it’s a venomous snake rather than a constrictor. It can be found in abundance in Forever Fall, exactly why no one will be suspicious when you’re bitten by one?”

“W-why are you doing this?” he asked in fear, Cardin was usually polite, an easygoing, he couldn’t understand what made him so sinister.

“Why?” came Cardin’s angry retort, “Perhaps it is an experiment, perhaps it’s for fun… but an animal like you has no right to know of my reasons.”

The stomp he delivered to the frightened Faunus was interrupted midway, “No unsanctioned duels between students,” Adam, who had blocked his foot with Nerium’s sheath, said amusedly.

Cardin’s eyes narrowed at Adam, actually noticing his horns for the first time. “Wait your turn,” he said in annoyance, his eyes drifting back to his prey on the floor. Adam noticed something in Cardin’s eyes before he had turned away from him; he wasn’t the typical racist, there was something there other than ignorant hate or an even more ignorant feeling of superiority. Adam was admittedly piqued.

“Cardin, stop!” shouted Weiss, who had followed behind Blake after she had run off in this direction, she had just arrived, but she understood perfectly what was happening.

“So you’re siding with _them,”_ Cardin whispered, “He was _your_ family too, you know.”

The whisper caused Weiss’ frosty blue eyes to quiver, but she still managed a weak “This isn’t the right way to do it.”

“You’re not wrong,” he mumbled, before picking up the dog Faunus gently, giving up since he was outnumbered and couldn’t risk the situation escalating. “I’m terribly sorry for the prank I pulled and I hope there are no hard feelings.” The genuineness with which the apology was made would have convinced even Robin Hill, even the ones who had witnessed his ‘prank’ very nearly bought his mock apology.

“Figures _you_ would know racist trash like him,” Blake shot at Weiss who was still in a bad state from the encounter.

“Hey,” she managed in his defense, “Cardin’s just… misguided.”

“I can’t believe that you’re defending him!”

“He’s… been through a lot, I know it’s no excuse, bu-”

“But nothing! You wanted to know if I forgave you, the answer is no. That’s the only thing people like do, you apologise and try to pretend that you’re not part of the problem.”

“I never proposed that he shouldn’t be punished, I’m simply asking that you shouldn’t judge him before understanding his reasons.”

“Of course, _you’d_ say that!”

“You say it like you know anything about me,” Weiss shouted angrily, “You’ve judged me from the first day you met me. For what? Not because I was rude to Ruby, you don’t care about her, you don’t care about anyone on this team. Always curled up with some book or another, at least I’m _trying_ to help this team, but you’re too busy straddling whatever moral high horse you even imagine you have any justification to be on to see it.”

“That’s enough,” Adam said cutting off Blake’s response before she could form it, “Let’s rendezvous with Glynda now.” Cardin and his teammates were surprisingly unbothered by this idea and fell in line behind the class rep.

“How come?” asked Ruby who ran to his side as though wanting to guard him from the racist bullies.

“We’re attracting a fair amount of Grimm,” he stated without slowing down, he didn’t mention the bad vibe he had been getting of recent.

“What about Cardin?” Weiss asked worriedly, the target of this worry seemed unbothered however.

“I only saw him trying to strike… What’s his name again?”

“I’m Shouter Danky,” he answered shyly, clinging to Adam as Ruby did.

“I only saw him attempting to hit Dylan, my duty as class rep ends there but if you need me to bear witness if you choose to report him, I’ll help out.”

“T-thanks,” he said meekly.

Adam was infuriated by this… Shouter, he was a Huntsman in training and yet he shook like a leaf whenever his name was called. Even though he was outnumbered, he could have yelled for help, but instead chose to whimper like some type of dog. He would never survive in the White Fang; they accepted weaklings, but never cowards. _Only soldiers get masks,_ he repeated the White Fang mantra in his head as he walked ahead of the students; Blake’s indignation contrasting Yang’s apathy, but all their demeanour’s failing to rival Ruby’s attempt to glare at Cardin angrily while staring at his mace in awe. 

“Can anyone else hear that?” asked Blake who was tailing the group moodily until she picked up on the sound and alerted her present company of the subtle, yet beautiful melody. 

The beautiful tune obviously came from a stringed instrument, maybe a violin. It had been playing for a while, they all suddenly noticed, for almost as long as they’d been in the forest, it simply blended into the ambience of the red wood so well that they had subconsciously accepted it as part of the forest itself. But now, it changed from its natural, assimilative quality to a powerful, jarring timbre that made the russet foliage quake. “Beautiful isn’t it?” asked Cardin as both Russell Thrush and Dove Bronzewing disappeared from the group.

* * *

“So,” Pyrrha asked when they were done gathering samples and Nora was done gorging herself, “What do _you_ guys want to do?”

“We’re okay as we are,” Ren said mildly.

“Uh, yeah we’re okay,” Nora said as she lay on the forest floor.

“Come on, guys, we still have a few hours left, we can do whatever we want!”

“You don’t need to do this, you know,” Ren responded as he rested up against a tree.

“Don’t need to do what?”

“Include us,” Nora answered while playing with the leaves, “We’re used to being the dynamic duo, we can stand being _just_ a pair. Not to mention that it seems you’re only talking to us because Jaune’s not here.”

“Oh no,” Pyrrha responded desperately, “I’ll admit that earlier made me realise that I knew not much about you two, but I’m not trying to patronize you. And Jaune, it’s not that I prefer talking to him, it’s just that he’s…”

“Terrible at combat?” offered Ren.

“Really cute?” asked Nora with a devious smile.

Pyrrha’s blush at this statement was all the confirmation they needed. “Pay up Ren,” Nora declared victoriously.

“We never made a bet,” he stated simply.

“Spoilsport.”

“Either way,” Ren said, turning to the still blushing Pyrrha, “What would you like us to do?”

“Well, I’ve always wanted to explore Forever Fall,” she mused almost dreamily, “I’ve read about it and seen documentaries, but I never had the opportunity to explore. It’s on my top ten locations to visit.”

The long chart she pulled out showing different locations across the four kingdoms and beyond, impressed Ren, the dark-haired boy nodding as he scanned some of them. “I here that Erin Basil is beautiful this time of year,” he commented, “How come you never travelled though?”

“It’s… complicated,” Pyrrha’s somber tone was quickly replaced by a bright one as she procceded to ask Nora and Ren about the places _they’d_ travelled to. The pair had travelled throughout Solitas, and had visited many a destination in Sanus. “You guys have been everywhere!” Pyrrha’s energetic voice conveyed her awe- and a small dose of jealousy- vividly, making the pair blush as they had never thought to much of their many adventures and had certainly seen anyone who thought so much of it either.

“Why would you ever leave such an amazing life to study at Beacon? I’d _never_ leave,” she said twirling in the ecstasy of imagining such an awesome life; no burden, not even the cell of a roof, untethered, free.

“You’re adorable,” Ren giggled, “Moving about isn’t as romantic as all that, though it _is_ special in its own way.”

“Sorry about that,” Pyrrha giggled; she couldn’t believe she was being so free with this pair. She had honestly started conversation out of courtesy, as she ought to have, being a Mary Sue and whatnot, but she was revealing a part of herself that she had fallen out of touch with.

“I get wanting to settle down,” she responded, laying down next to Nora on a bed of leaves, “But why come to Beacon.”

“We actually weren’t looking to settle down,” Nora answered, apparently ready to chair further discussion, “We kind of met this rich guy and saved him from Grimm. Long story short, he decided to sponsor us since we’re pretty good at this already.”

“Oh, didn’t peg you two as the sponsorship type. I thought you’d be more used to living life the way you want.”

“We do,” Ren responded, adamantly against lying down on the dry leaves, “But it’s not like _we’re_ going to get an opportunity like this ever again. Training at the best Huntsman Academy in Remnant is merely a dream for most.”

“For most,” Nora sniped.

“We couldn’t keep moving about forever,” Ren answered evenly despite his surprise, “It was a good opportunity to settle down.”

“Because you said so?”

“I’m not having this conversation with you now.”

“Why? I’m not some kid, I-”

“Because there’s a Black Wave approaching and they’re probably not going to wait for us to finish our conversation.” Ren’s declaration drew the ladies’ attention towards the small tremors that shook the entire forest.

“Let’s regroup with Mrs. Goodwitch.”

“There could be students out there, we should help them out.”

“Nora,” Pyrrha injected, “If there’s a Grimm hoard, the best thing we can do is regroup with Goodwitch, if we get caught in a wave, we’ll end up causing more trouble for everyone.”

The students were in disarray; some were shouting hysterically while others were on the verge of tears, the scene shocked team JNPR, although the students weren’t hardened veterans, they were still more composed than this, they were Huntsmen in training after all. The scene was intensified by the dissolving Grimm cadavers and the scarier, approaching Mrs. Goodwitch. “Where’ve you been?” Goodwitch shouted on spotting three-quarters of team JNPR, “We wer-”

“It doesn’t matter,” she cut in, “Have you seen teams RWBY, CRDL and Adam?”

“No, they aren’t here?”

“No, they went deeper into the forest, and I haven’t been able to search for them with all of… this,” she punctuated her last statement by waving her hands towards the hysterical students.

“We can form a search party and look for them,” Pyrrha and Nora proffered eagerly.

“That’s not going to happen. With so much negativity, more Grimm will be on us soon. And I can’t leave the students unprotected and I’m certainly not going to allow you to go on your own.” 

“You’re going to leave them behind?”

“Never,” she rebuked, “One of the best Huntsmen in all of Vale is looking for them right now and they’ll meet us in Beacon.”

“I’m flattered,” Qrow, the man in question, said as he walked up from behind her.

“What are you doing? You’re supposed to b-”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” he said as he wrapped an arm round her shoulder and pulled her to the side, “Adam is there with them, this is the perfect opportunity to observe him.”

“Your nieces are there too, they are at risk.”

“They’re also Huntresses in training,” he bit back, “I’ve told them time without number the risks of this job even as students.”

“You’re ready to risk their lives for this?”

“Their lives aren’t in any danger. As you said, I’m one of the best Huntsmen in Vale.”

* * *

On a distant cliff, a pale boy with combed back blue hair stood solitarily, furiously bowing on a stringed instrument, absorbed in the world that his music was creating. So much so that he didn’t even notice the appearance of his teammates next to him, not until Russell placed a hand on his shoulder. “Time to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! Thank God, I’m done with my exams and by His grace I won’t fail… too much.
> 
> Either way, I wanted to give Cardin a backstory and dare I say, actual motivations. I was piqued when I read up and found out the character was inspired by the clergy who tried Joan of Arc, one of my favourite history figures and the inspiration for Jaune’s character. And as much as I love her and believe that being created for simply for the purpose of a character inspired by her is great and all, I still wanted to make him more since he was really a nonentity on the show, so much so that I was going to leave him out entirely since his role could be carried out by more interesting and relevant characters. So stay tuned to see my attempt at giving a character depth.


	6. Burning Blossom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very long chapter.

"Time to go," Russell said to his teammate, Sky Lark who heard him but didn't respond. His music had already reached its climax, he had to descend gradually from the peak, if not the entire arrangement would fall apart, the melodious masterpiece would become just another tune, and so he gently deflated the melody, strumming and picking, creating beautiful undulations. His solo symphony gently reached a conclusion and the entire forest which had been thrilling alongside it paused for a moment before being quaked once more by the approaching Black Wave.

The blue haired boy nodded towards his friends, and the group vanished after Russell placed his hands on both of them. They landed in the midst of Mrs. Goodwitch and the evacuating students and began strolling unto the bullhead. "Do you know where the others are?" Goodwitch asked after getting over the surprise and relief of their sudden arrival. "No," Dove responded, his head turned down, "We were separated from Cardin and the others, we're not sure where they could be, but they were awfully close to the Wave."

This statement had Mrs. Goodwitch wringing her crop even more anxiously. "Time to take off!" she shouted to the pilot who ignited the engines immediately in response, propelling the airship into the air.

"Didn't expect it to be this bad," Russell stated referring to the disarray the students of Beacon had been thrown into.

"It's difficult to factor that into calculations, but yes, it is much worse than expected."

"I wonder why they're so calm," Nora mused from team JNPR's seat on the bullhead, "They're not affected by this wave of hysteria that seems to have caught every other student. Even the cool team AMEN seems to be affected."

Her statement brought her teammates' attention once more to Mercury, who had been bound to the floor by Goodwitch's semblance alongside some other students whose outbursts had been too violent, Emerald, who was sobbing silently and Neo, who was silent and restrained in the corner she had folded herself into, as though trying to be as small as possible.

"It's a jarring experience," Pyrrha said solemnly, "Which begs the question of why we aren't affected by this hysteria."

"It is likely due to Ren's semblanc... which I'm not supposed to talk about."

Ren simply shook his head at Nora's ditsy slip, "It's okay, Pyrrha's a friend, there's no reason she shouldn't know."

"My semblance, [Serene Surface] enables me to hide my emotions and the emotions of those in my proximity from Grimm. I also have control over my emotions as well as a resistance to mood-altering semblances and drugs. The serenity of my aura is very likely the reason the effects didn't go farther than that small spat between Nora and me. As to the means by which team CRDL can remain composed, I have no idea."

"That would mean that the six of us are the only ones who can assist Goodwitch in defending the bullhead."

"Assuming we can trust them."

"They've given no reason for us to do otherwise," Ren added, although he was not disagreeing with Nora's statement.

"Okay then," Pyrrha said as she approached team CRDL, having decided to ignore her teammates' pessimism.

Her cool gait was interrupted by the sudden jolt of the airship, which sent many a student flying across the aircraft. They were under attack.

Meanwhile, team RWBY was freaking out; despite the cacophonous cries of the approaching Black Wave they were still able to hear the roar of the bullhead which signified that they had been left behind. "I don't believe this!" Yang said, shedding her usual unconcerned demeanour.

"They just left us!" Weiss said almost despairingly.

"No kidding, Sherlock!" came a snide reply that Ruby hadn't known she was capable of, a response that she knew she should apologise for but for some reason refused to.

"I don't think Sherlock exists in Remnant though," Shouter corrected.

"Get off it, dog boy!"

"We wouldn't have been left behind if we didn't waste time with all those detours!"

"Detours that ensured we avoided packs of Grimm," Adam said, losing his temper, "If we ran into them, we would still be fighting, those of us that wouldn't have been killed off that is."

"Perhaps she thinks she'd be able to bribe her way through the Grimm."

"There's no reason to be tense," said Cardin, the only one unaffected by the bad vibe.

"Says the person who put us in this mess," Blake shot.

"Hey," Weiss cut in, "You're the one who led us towards him. How did you even know what was going on?"

Blake's guilty response was cut off by a small projectile that struck her head, and the heads of every other member of their party. They were small rocks, but they still stung, they stung just enough to get everyone's head out of their butts and looking at the culprit, Adam.

"That was in case any of you had forgotten that negativity attracts the Grimm," he said, calmer than he was a minute ago, "Fall in line, all of you."

"What are we going to do?" Blake asked, perhaps the familiarity of the situation calming her down enough to respond.

"We need to find some sort of enclosure to weather the Wave in." The others fell in line behind him as no one else seemed ready to take charge of the situation.

"I might know somewhere we could go," Weiss offered, drawing the attention of the party.

"I'm not sure we can get there with the Wave and everything, but there are some temple ruins that are fairly defensible although decrepit. We could possibly weather the Wave there if we can find one sturdy enough."

"That sounds like a plan, we'll need a scout, someone with good eyes who can escape without too much of a hassle." He said 'someone', but he was looking at Blake, she had been a good scout and barring the impossibility that she had thrown away her skills alongside her courage and allegiance to the White Fang, she should still be able to do her job effectively.

"Okay then," she accepted, feeling the weight of his silent order.

Both three-quarters of team CRDL and JNPR were exhausted, they had just finished fighting off the murder of Nevermore interspersed with clouds of the smaller, bat-like Cauldrons that were hindering the progress of the aircraft.

Immediately the Grimm attacked the bullhead, Glynda had rushed unto the top of the airship to battle them, and with the exception of Ren, who was busy trying to bring order to the students within the bullhead and Russell, who was exhausted after transporting his friends over the distance he did, the two teams followed, ready to back her up.

"That's a wicked weapon," Nora complimented, taking advantage of the short reprieve they had, judging from the clouds of Grimm that were on the horizon, to let a little loose. Sky Lark, the object of this compliment simply nodded in response. "Uh," she said as she tilted towards Pyrrha, "Ever notice he doesn't talk much?"

"Nora!" Pyrrha said by way of rebuke at Nora's crass question. Sky was apparently unbothered though as he simply lay down the roof beneath him, prepared to get whatever rest he could before the Grimm reached once more. "What are you lazing about for?" joked Dove as he plopped down beside his teammate. He didn't usually joke, perhaps he did so because he hoped his light demeanour would take attention away from the dents on his armour and the scratches on everywhere uncovered by it. It didn't.

The guilt in Sky's eyes made it evident that it didn't. "Get off it, man. This isn't your fault." Sky didn't need words to express his disbelief, he was also too tired to sign it out, so he pretended to agree with his friend and closed his eyes. It was his fault, all of it was his fault; the Black Wave was here because of him, him and his damned ability, he should never have let Cardin talk him into using it, again.

[Mellifluid Madness], it had always been more of a curse than a semblance. Follow your heart, he thought, What a load.

It was nearly a decade ago, in a small town called Elapharos, a town alight with the colours and sounds of festivity. In this town, a small blue haired boy ran towards what looked to be a temple of some sort. He was clearly happy, his smile said so, so did the spring in his step, so did his clear laughter. No doubt about it, Sky Lark was happy. Why wouldn't he be? It was An'Harus after all.

An'Harus was a religious festival celebrated by annually by the followers of the god Harus, a well-renowned Daya. This year, Sky had a major part in the festival, well sort of major, it was a role in a play, it wasn't the lead role, but it was a major role, his mom had told him so. Anything, no matter how small, done with the whole of your heart was major, and Harus was watching and would reward accordingly. That's why during today's play, he would give his best performance, no matter what.

"There's no way I'm wearing that," Sky said as he looked at the costume he was given, it was a girl's. He couldn't wear that, Russell and Dove would have a field day.

"Come on," responded Pacifica, the Priest's daughter, who seemed to enjoy torturing Sky, "This is the only costume left."

"No way," it was bad enough that he was going to be a background character, but to be a background character in a dress? (Kinda like Jaune in Volume 2?)

"If you aren't going to do it," she said as she made to leave, "There's tons of guys who are willing to wear it." That was a lie, the play was more of a kid's project than anything else, a rendition of the same Scripture taught every other week, the only thing sparser than the cast and crew would be the audience, everyone would rather be watching the actual play held and sponsored by the Winchester family. The Priest had entreated all the members to attend, because it would encourage children to be active in their faith, and Pacifica would be someone else's problem temporarily, some would stop by, but many would try to get as much work done and catch the actual play in the evening.

"Wait," despite knowing that she was lying, he recalled his mother's words and decided that he would do it, no matter what. Had he known what was coming though, he would have burned that dress.

Blake was jumping from tree to tree, she had taken Ruby's prized red hood to blend in with the foliage better. Stealth during a Black Wave was pretty difficult, it was stupid to even attempt, but it was better than staying put and doing nothing during a Black Wave, as that was the leading cause of death in Black Waves believe it or not.

To be honest, she was still a bit miffed that Adam thought that he could still order her around even though neither of them were in the White Fang anymore. And even more miffed by the fact that he thought right.

That's interesting, she thought as she spotted a land-form, It's no temple, but it might work. She headed back, perhaps a little too happy at her discovery, her happiness was in no way related to the fact that she had completed a task Adam had given her. It wasn't.

"My hood!" Ruby shouted when Blake returned, forgetting the girl who was attached to it.

"I'm okay too, thanks."

"What did you find?" Adam asked.

"It wasn't a temple, but it was a ruin either way and it seemed to be fairly sturdy, narrow openings we can use to limit the number of Grimm that enter and most interestingly…" the cat Faunus paused for a moment for suspense, "… The Grimm seem to be actively avoiding it."

Adam was shocked by her statement, a place where even the Grimm were avoiding? That could only be trouble, but there was nothing as essential as a place where the Grimm avoided during a Wave.

"Somewhere the Grimm avoid? That seems like more trouble than a group of students should even be in the general area of," said Weiss, voicing part of Adam's worries.

"We've managed to avoid the brunt of the wave for now," Yang inputted, "But we've drained ourselves just fending off the few strays, there's no guarantee we can keep this up or avoid the Wave for as long as it takes to send a rescue."

The group all looked towards the bull Faunus, of course they did, he was the oldest and he was the one who had started barking out orders, but to venture into a place they knew so little about even with a group of capable students and Shouter, was a heavy decision.

A decision that would have to be put on hold as a cloud of Cauldrons seemed to have taken notice of the group and were diving at them urgently. "Dang it!" cursed Adam, Cauldrons were some of the worst Grimm that could attack at this moment, the bat-like Grimm were about the size of a human, and could manoeuvre the forest easily despite the density of trees. SCREECH! They could also do that.

The Cauldron's shriek made every member of the group's step falter, some more than others as both Ruby and Shouter fell to the ground. The two closest Cauldrons rushed at the fallen members, ready to grab them in their bone-crushing claws.

Adam halted and turned around to grab the girl before she was grabbed by Cauldron, and at the same time, Cardin ran towards the Cauldron approaching Shouter and struck it with an explosive attack from Executioner, crippling the flying Grimm. Despite his successful hit, the momentum of the Grimm was too great, and its body sent Cardin flying into the rest of the group, which served as enough chaos for one of the Cauldrons to make away with the screaming dog Faunus.

Other Grimm attempted to get lucky, but a streak of blood red aura scattered them and led them to retreat.

"We just lost Shouter," Weiss said as she collapsed onto the ground.

"We did," Adam said mildly.

"Don't all cry about it at once," Yang bit sarcastically.

"Hysterical reactions won't help," Cardin said, in an attempt to defuse the situation.

"That's exactly what you wanted isn't it?" Blake asked furiously.

"No wonder I jumped to protect him while you ran away."

"Ruby has a plan," Adam interrupted, while pushing the small girl forward, "Tell them Ruby."

Ruby, who had whispered the plan to Adam to avoid being put on the spot, glared at him as she tried to explain her plan. "Remember our fight against the Nevermore in the Emerald Forest? We used your [Glyphs] to take it down, they made me a lot faster than I usually am."

"If we can combine that with my [Blossom Burst], we can move across the forest and to the ruins extremely quickly, I've never carried that many people before, but Yang is pretty hea… hearty and I've carried her, so maybe I could carry all of us."

"Nice save," Cardin said with a chuckle.

"Good plan, you guys hide out in the ruins while Cardin and I go get Shouter. We're the heaviest, barring Yang, so without us, the plan is more likely to work."

"Not to mention that I feel terrible for my prank earlier and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't go and help my pal Shouter out."

"Shouter isn't gone?"

"You probably don't know this since you're always asleep in Grimm Studies, but Cauldrons are fairly intelligent and cruel, they like to… play with their prey."

"I'm not sure if that's good news or bad."

"It's hope," Adam said, "I'm trusting you to be okay while we go save him. All of you are capable future Huntresses, and Ruby's here too."

His joke earned him a small punch from the affronted girl, "Be careful."

"You too," Weiss said to Cardin, hugging the boy, "I won't forgive you if you don't come back."

"You got it," he said, taking a serious demeanour for the first time as he hugged her back.

"We're up!" Nora said for the umpteenth time, ready to fight off even more Grimm. "I'm really tired of this," Emerald grumbled as Thief's Respite nailed a few flying Grimm in their wings, slowing down and injuring them enough to dissuade them or for other students to finish them off. Glynda only let a few get past her, but the over a dozen students were still exhausted.

They had always heard from alumni to 'not let the name, Goodwitch fool you.' They'd never understood it till the lady herself ordered the bullhead to stay hovering as she would use the Black Wave as a lesson. And so, the students of Beacon Academy had been fighting all the Grimm that Glynda let through fervently. This was only possible because they were at the very fringe of the forest, and only stragglers from the Wave were attacking them, it was still a tall order for a group of freshmen.

"Class dismissed," she said, as she cleared away the last of the creatures of Grimm, "Although some were unable to fight with their partners due to… circumstances, I hope that you've all learned a lot from your first Black Wave. You guys are really lucky, most sets don't get such an opportunity until the next semester. Don't worry though, you'll probably get another opportunity sometime after the Vytal Festival."

Glynda's statement was punctuated by several students collapsing, exhausted from even thinking about the ordeal she predicted. "Team JNPR and AMEN," she said, "You both have the same problem of being paired with people who aren't your partners. Nora, sometimes you get in Pyrrha's way and Emerald, although you're clearly capable of fighting by yourself, it's okay to be supported by your classmates when your teammates are out of it."

"Team CRDL, I'm impressed by the fluidity of your teamwork even without your team leader, the others could stand to learn from that."

Almost every team was missing at least a member, although the hysteria had worn off, there was still backlash from an emotional overdraft, nothing a little sleep and therapy wouldn't fix. Emerald got the worst of it, as both Mercury and Neo were out of it, so she had to fight on her own. It wasn't all that bad, she was used to it after all... but she hoped that Mercury and Neo would be okay, couldn't have them dying before they executed Cinder's plan.

"I'm so hungry I could eat Ren," said Nora in her over the top manner as the students descended back into the aircraft.

"I'm not sure that you'd get much out of it," joked Ren exhaustedly as he welcomed the girls back. "We'll just wait and see."

"Either w-" he started, until he was interrupted by an obviously distracted Sky Lark bumping into him, "Sorry about that."

"Why're you apologising?" Nora asked, "He ran into you."

"Nora don't… do anything stupid," Ren's warning was rather ineffective as the target had already skipped towards her own target.

"Listen buster," she said as she placed her hand on his shoulder, trying out a line she saw in an old movie, "You just bumped into my friend, and I didn't hear an apology."

It took Sky a while to leave his contemplation and concentrate on Nora's words, it then took a longer while for him to decide if it was a dumb joke or if she was just dumb. Luckily, Pyrrha rushed to her side before he could decide, apologising, while trying to keep Nora quiet despite the shorter girl's protests.

"Listen," Russell cut in, "I know you're not supposed to be smart, but that was pretty stupid, even for you." This ended the conversation, as team CRDL left, and Pyrrha kept restraining Nora.

"What the heck, Pyrrha?" she said angrily.

"He's mute, Nora," Pyrrha responded tiredly, officially giving up on looking for euphemisms as she apparently couldn't find any proper ones while she struggled to restrain her friend. It took Nora a minute to get out of her fit and concentrate on Pyrrha's words, and then another one to decide if she should kill herself or ask Pyrrha to do it. Maybe that Nevermore that retreated will swallow me whole if I ask nicely.

Sky looked back on the pair of redheads, the stupid mute jokes weren't new to him, but a stupid person who accidentally made mute jokes was a rarer sight than most. It amused him, then annoyed him all of a sudden; she would come back to apologise later and probably create an even more awkward situation. He was always making things inconvenient for others, wasn't he? From awkward situations to downright ruining their lives.

Sky was in the dress, he was on stage, in a dress. It was only for a short scene, before he went back behind the curtain and waited for the closing scene. It was just for a short scene, but it was accompanied by catcalls and whistles from Dove and Russell. From behind the curtain, he could see that they were waving a sign that read: "Nice legs!" Sky was tickled pink by this, but when he saw his mom seated in the bleachers, excitedly scanning for him although she knew he wasn't on again till the end, he stood a little straighter.

She was his biggest cheerleader, it was almost childlike at times how excited she was over such little things from spelling tests to dumb plays.

The play described the war between man and Gods, the lead was Pexis, a man who led rebellion against the Divine, believing that humanity was too great to be ruled over by Gods. In the course of his journey, he observes the wonders of creation. The details that if he had created the world, he would likely have neglected. This gives him a deeper understanding of the Gods, appreciating their role in the world, but still unwilling to be subservient to them. It details the battle between them, with cheap visual effects, basically they paid a few older kids with flashy semblances to do it.

Despite the full manifestation of Human might, the pantheon is easily victorious, but Harus is heartbroken that his very children would take up arms against him and leaves the world that has now been scarred by the Humans. Pexis stood alone, in a world devastated by his own actions, with a heart humbled by his mistakes. The lights dimmed, it was Sky's cue.

Sky alongside other background characters crawled unto the stage, they represented the fallen humanity, they all sang a mournful tune, a penitent tune, a requiem for humanity. This was Sky's moment, he raised his voice above the others, slowly at first, but the more he sang, the higher his voice got. He didn't know sadness, he had been sad before, but he had never felt the sorrow portrayed in this song. However, he understood music well enough to know how to convey it through his voice. He dug deep into himself to deliver on the emotion, knowing that Harus and his mother would be proud that he was giving his all.

For a moment, his voice eclipsed everything, from the sounds of fireworks to the songs being played, his voice had become the centre of Elapharos. Then a scream broke through the harmony and snapped the boy out of his reverie. Sky's eyes opened to a terrible scene; it was chaos, people were crying and bawling on the floor, they were shouting in sorrow, screaming in agony. Even worse were the ones who were violent, they grabbed their children and shook them, they tackled their spouses, a woman even activated her semblance.

What was happening? Sky scanned desperately for Dove, Russell and most especially his mom. The crowd had been small, but a more sizable one had been drawn in by the boy's singing. As he tried to push through the crowd, a member tried to push through him, knocking the boy down and out.

"Do you think they'll be able to find Shouter?"

"I hope so," Weiss responded, trying yet failing to allay Ruby's concern.

"Yeah right," Blake answered sardonically, Weiss ignored her, she and Ruby were too busy trying to calculate their path. [Petal Burst] negates my mass, and the mass of whoever I'm carrying along, this means that I don't really have any force behind me, so my advance will be halted by any obstacles, kinda like a ray of light."

"I see, that'll be a problem in such a thick forest, and flying too high will attract too many Grimm." Despite everything, Weiss was actually a bit happy; this was the first time they were working as a team, she knew part of the reason for that was her own meanness and withdrawal.

"It would," Ruby responded, "But Yang and I experimented, and if we combine our semblances together, her aura will take the damage and effect of any obstacles and break them. I call it [Burning Blossom]." Combinations? Both Blake and Weiss said, thankfully internally, as they'd both likely be repulsed by the idea of having the exact same thought simultaneously.

"Hey, I just followed Ruby's lead," Yang said in response to Blake and Weiss' questioning looks, "Just for fun, and [Burning Blossom] happened."

They both knew that Ruby was talented, she had to be if she gained admittance into Remnant's best Huntsman academy, but Combination moves, moves that utilised more than one person's semblance together, at her young age, cemented that status. "I see," Weiss observed, "So, using an acceleration Glyph, I can energise your 'ray of light' so that you can get that far while carrying all of us, while Yang's aura absorbs the impact from Grimm or any other obstacles so that our movement is not halted."

"It's a brilliant plan," Blake said, in her first contribution, "But the fact that you guys have only done this a few times with varying levels of success even when it was just two of you is troubling."

"Let me finish," she said, raising her hand to stop their complaints, "I know that it's our only shot, and it's not too complicated, so it's likely to work, but it is going to be dangerous for both of you."

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?"

"We don't, but Ruby should still know what she's in for."

Ruby became the centre of attention once those words were spoken, she was a kid, that's how everyone here saw her. She didn't need to make such a big decision, except that she did, they were able to avoid majority of the Grimm, but if they didn't make it to that safe haven, they would die, her sister, all her… friends?

"If I don't take responsibility now, I'll take responsibility for it down the line," she said, hoping no one knew she was quoting Adam, "I'm ready, so let's go."

"Are you sure you want a racist as your partner?" Cardin teased as the two moved through the forest.

"You were by far the calmest during the ordeal, it wouldn't do to attract Grimm in such a situation," Adam responded, "Especially after going through such pains to bypass the Wave. Not to mention that I can't trust you."

"Ooh?" Cardin hummed curiously, encouraging Adam to continue.

"You are smart, very much so," Adam said, "You made a reputation for yourself, a troublemaker, but someone who was nice either way. You certainly weren't polite, but that came more from a lack of refinement than intentional disrespect. The prankster with a haematite heart, that was the impression you created."

"We both know that that impression is fake," Adam continued after ensuring that "Just like you coming back to save Shouter earlier or volunteering to help me get him back. That way, any accusation of you trying to hurt him could be chalked up to hysteria, because if you truly wanted to cause him harm, why would you try to save him twice?"

"You're writing yourself quite an interesting plot," Cardin responded coolly to his string of accusations, "I actually know a bit about that, you know, the Winchester family first got its wealth from theatre."

"Hmm, can I ask a question then? Since we're suddenly buddies," Adam decided to take Cardin's silence as an invitation to ask his question, "Why do you hate Faunus?"

"Strange that you think that I'll answer that."

"Stranger still, is the fact that you will probably answer it. Let's say it's a character from one of your plays, why do you think he hates Faunus?"

"Let's say that this character does hate Faunus," Cardin said while running his fingers through his burnt orange hair, "I can tell you that it isn't a good enough reason, that he knows that it's a stupid reason to. It hurts, but he's simply transferring aggression, but that doesn't stop him from doing so, doesn't make him hate them any less."

"Interesting," Adam mused, his curiosity piqued even more.

"My question again," Cardin said, "How're we ever going to find that scrawny boy?"

"Good question," Adam said, "If you don't mind, Qrow, could you help us with that?"

Qrow mumbled a few expletives from the trees, as he descended before the redhead who had called him out. "I'm going to chalk up your ability to find me to dumb luck, because my stealth is perfect and without flaws." It actually was, Adam hadn't noticed him until that time he ran back to save Ruby, it seemed as though he was planning on helping himself.

"Of course," Adam said amusedly, "I'm sure you know where the Cauldrons took Shouter."

"Of course," he grumbled, an apparent habit of his, "Let's go."

"There's no need for that," Adam said as he moved in front of Qrow, "You can just tell us where and you can go on to helping team WRBY while we save Shouter."

"Their plan is a tricky one, it needs precision, courage and perhaps most importantly, luck. I'm not the best to support something like that, but I called in a favour, so they'll be in good hands, or talons."

Adam caught the drift of what Qrow was saying, and it caused him to quiver a bit in fear. Qrow noticed this strange reaction, but shoved it aside as he led the Adam and Cardin to where Shouter would be.

At this time, the students had all arrived back in Beacon, bruised, exhausted and ready for emergency treatment. Pyrrha wasn't that dramatic, all she needed was a hot shower, something she kept trying to tell Jaune, who kept fussing over her. "Jaune," she said, grabbing the blonde warrior by his shoulders, "I'm okay, and I'll be even better if you let me get into the shower."

"Oh, sorry about that," Pyrrha should have been able to tell that Jaune was just a little too depressed by her rebuke, she probably could, but now, she was simply too tired to even care.

The jet of hot water was so relaxing, she made sure to go last, so that she could hoard the shower as much as possible. She was done, had been for a while, but she was enjoying the bath she had drawn for herself after her shower. She had marinated so long in there that she was sure she would smell like [Lavender Essence] for a week. She didn't want to go out, she was too tired, much too tired to smile throughout everything, to be the encouraging Invincible Girl. If she didn't step out, they'd be worried though. It was with that thought that she was able to drag herself out of the bathroom. Inuwa, give me strength.

Immediately she stepped out, she was struck by a pillow to the face. Nora and Ren were arguing, this was new, and she was in no condition to handle it now. Jaune was gone too, seems she didn't needn't have bothered about them worrying about her, If I can just slip back into the b-

"Don't you agree, Pyrrha?" any hopes the Invincible Girl had of sneaking away were dashed by Nora's question. She sighed internally while trying to remember what Nora was saying but remembering instead that she was too tired to care.

"Regarding? I wasn't really listening just now," too tired to care but not too tired to pretend apparently.

"Ren wants me to go apologise to Sky," Nora ranted.

"I think that's fair," Pyrrha answered, her fake smile nearly succumbing to the pressure of such a stupid argument.

"Of course it's fair," Nora responded, "But he's refusing to come with."

"You said it yourself," Ren responded testily, "You aren't a kid, I'm sure that entails being able to apologise to someone without me holding your hand the whole way."

"I knew it," Nora shouted, "You are mad about our argument earlier."

"I'm not mad about anything," Ren answered, "But I'm still not following you to apologise."

The argument dragged out a for a while, somehow, Ren was able to convince her to go at the end of it all.

Maybe she could pretend to go to sleep now, Ren and her hardly ever talked, she didn't see a r-

"You seem really tired," Ren said. You know what? She was really going to stop hoping for rest.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked as he plopped onto his own bed. It wasn't a bad idea, Ren seemed like a good person to talk to, but Pyrrha didn't want to go through her baggage, not sure she'd ever be tired enough for that.

"I have a question then," Pyrrha asked, not bothering to lace her sentence with her signature sweetness.

"Fire away," Ren asked, either not noticing or not caring.

"You let Nora approach Sky when you could have stopped her. Why?"

"You're a lot more observant that you let on, Invincible Girl," Ren answered with a laugh, "Either way, it's because Nora was right; she isn't a kid, and I don't have to baby her all the time. She'll make mistakes, and then she'll come up with solutions, it's as simple as that. You probably don't understand it though."

"I know more about parenting than you'd think," Pyrrha responded.

"Is that the case?" Ren asked amusedly, clearly piqued, "Well don't stop now that you've gotten me all curious."

"Another time," Pyrrha responded tiredly, as she stretched herself unto her bed, "I'm too tired, and the readers will get bored if there's only backstories in this chapter."

Nora was walking all by herself, all by herself to go apologise to Sky, Ren was such a jerk. The redhead shyly knocked on team CRDL's door, waiting for someone to answer.

"Shawarma?" came a voice from within the room, it wasn't Sky, it was the shorter one, Dove, if she wasn't mistaken.

"It's Nora from team JNPR," she whispered.

"Can I help you?" he said, as he peeked his head out of the door, clearly disappointed that it wasn't their order.

"Em, could I please talk to Sky Lark?"

"Check out the training rooms."

"Oh, thanks, which-" her sentence was cut off by the door slamming on her.

"Hey, Sky," Nora said, finding him training alongside Russell after a few minutes of searching, "Could I talk to you?"

The blue haired youth simply nodded and strode Feather's Edge across his shoulders, watching her silently, as she hemmed and hawed under his serious gaze. "I-I'm really sorry about what I said earlier," she said meekly, "It was really crass and dumb."

Sky started signing in response to Nora's apology, Russell was paying attention, apparently prepared to serve as a translator. "He says you're really cute," Russell said, before getting a punch in the arm from Sky, "Just kidding."

"He said he was actually at fault since he ran into your friend, and that the only reason you're apologising is because he's handicapped and you asking for an apology from a mute person is apparently some type of social travesty."

"I didn't mean it like that," she said, before waiting for him to finish signing once more.

"He says that he understands that you weren't trying to offend, but that he doesn't like special treatment or inconveniencing others just because he's dumb. You needn't have come to apologise is what he's trying to say. He did say you're cute this time, though."

Nora couldn't tell whether Dove was joking or not, Sky's face was too stoic to give anything away, but she thought she could see just the faintest shadow of a smile. Either way, she was relieved that their earlier 'encounter' turned out to be a non-issue, so much so that she skipped all the way back to her room.

"You're clearly thinking about that day again," Dove stated once the hammer-wielder had left their company, "Need some time alone?" Sky simply nodded his assent, talking was really a wasted talent when he had friends as attentive as his were.

"Okay then," he said, "Don't stay too long now."

That day, they all called it that, what a day it was too. It changed so much for him.

Sky woke up, violently, jumping out of the bed that he was on, "Mom?"

"Sky," called a voice in response to the ruckus he was making. It wasn't his mother's, it was the Priest, Father Mikaela.

"Father," he asked, "Do you know where my mom is?"

"I do young man, but first, sit," he punctuated this by sitting on the bed, and patting the spot next to him.

"Do you remember what happened?" Sky remembered, he remembered people screaming, running about helter-skelter, he remembered singing, his singing.

"It seems that you do," Mikaela said, observing the boy's confusion and terror, while taking his white gloves, part of his holy vestments. "Since you understand what has happened, what you have done, let me explain what will happen, or rather, what you must do to make it happen."

"You're singing was surely the cause of the uproar, there's no doubt about it," Mikaela said, "I've never witnessed anything as terrifying, or beautiful. Your voice captured the entire town, even I was under its effects for a while. It caused hysteria within the crowd, attracting Grimm to Elapharos."

"Luckily, no one died in this attack, partially thanks to the Winchester family militia. However," Mikaela paused, mumbling a tiny prayer under his breath, "Three people were crippled. Yes Sky, as a result of what I imagine is your semblance, three whole people were crippled."

"Think, what happens when three people, devout of Harus, get crippled during a religious festival and specifically during a play meant to glorify Harus. People are scared, they are scared because they do not understand what happened, or rather, it's easier to justify wanting revenge if they employ the guise of misunderstanding. I can clearly see that it was your semblance that caused what happened, nothing more than some accident."

"The people hurt and confused by this however, will take it as some sort of omen, a machination forces that want to oppose our God. No manner of convincing will make them believe otherwise. Their conviction will lead them to take vengeance on you."

"Now, you can choose to run away, I have made preparations for that, but you must understand the consequences of this. Firstly, I will lose my position as Priest, which is a pity, but hardly worth the risk of keeping you here. Secondly, and most importantly, everyone who has a connection to you in this town, will suffer the consequences in your stead. Pacifica, Russell, Dove and your mother, they'll all bear the consequences, the discrimination, hate and shame will be all theirs to bear, and I would be powerless to help since I would have been stripped of my rank as Priest."

"You do have a chance to avoid this," the Priest finally added, with visible hesitation, "But it'll come at a great cost to you. I sincerely pray that you go with the former option." With this, silence descended like an iron curtain, refusing to leave for a while, apparently having found a new abode.

"T-this isn't fair," Sky said finally, breaking the age-long silence, "I was just trying to honour Harus, to make my mom proud. Wha-wh-w…" He wanted to complete his sentence, he truly did, but the tears were too much, they overcame him, he was just a kid, why did he have to go through all this? He was just a kid.

"I know," Father Mikaela said as he pulled the boy into a hug, "You shouldn't have to make a decision like this, but you have to."

"D-does Harus hate me? Did I do something wrong? I missed a service last week, is that why?"

"It isn't anything like that. Sometimes, people misinterpret Harus' message, they are blinded by hate and fear, and they destroy others in their ignorance. We are bearers of Harus' light, it is our duty to guide the blinded, many at times with self-sacrifice."

"I'm also a light-bearer?" Sky asked, having somehow calmed down enough to be embarrassed at his running nose and straining for a tissue.

"Yes, you are," the Priest said, "Harus chooses people like us, normal people who have the responsibilities of hard decisions are thrust upon."

"Okay then," Sky answered, determinedly. He was going to do it, it wasn't right, it wasn't fair, but he was the only one who could, so he would.

"Okay then," Mikaela said, almost regretfully, as he stood up leave the room, "Get some sleep, there'll be quite the ordeal when you wake up." Mikaela sighed after he left the room, it would seem that using such methods were best, or rather, it was the one that would bring the best results, Harus forgive him for all he did and all he didn't.

Sky bit his tongue in frustration at the memory, or would've; it was an abomination, the means through which an evil had possessed him to sabotage a festival meant to glorify Harus, it was common sense what had happened.

A great orange blaze streaked through the sky like a comet, lighting up the red forest and consequently attracting creatures of Grimm to it. A Nevermore rushed towards the streak, attempting grab it, its great talons merely nicking it though. Strangely, the streak seemed to burn even brighter with the impact, its speed increasing till it crashed unto the forest floor.

The crash raised a large cloud of dust and ashes, from which the members of team RWBY emerged wobblingly. "And that," said Ruby, dizzily, "Was [Burning Blossom]."

"That went surprisingly well," Weiss noted.

"Yeah, now let's enter the ruins quickly," Blake said, "In case the Grimm suddenly overcome their aversion to it, we want to gain as much distance from it as possible."

Without another word, the girls ran towards the ruins which were merely a few metres away. The ruins were clearly buried until recently, most likely uncovered by the action of Grimm. Surprisingly, the ruins were still fairly sturdy, which is very convenient as them dying due to a structural collapse would be really anticlimactic. "Stay here," Blake cautioned, "I'll check it out for a bit, to ensure it's safe. If I'm in trouble, I'll shoot my solar dust flare, so keep your eyes peeled, although it's pretty hard to miss."

"Okay, be safe," Weiss said, the others were trying to pretend that they had understood what she said, seemingly affected by the fall more than they had let on. Blake merely grunted a reply, she didn't need a Schnee's concern.

Blake moved discreetly through the ruins, carefully manoeuvring through the halls of the decrepit ruins with agility and stealth that would impress even Batman. Why would ruins like this be in Forever Fall? Blake thought, she had noticed that the ruins were old, several decades at most though, not like the others which were centuries old, some even outliving Vale itself. That would explain their relative stability. Either way, she ought to return to her teammates now, there seemed to be no cause for concern so far, they could weather the Wave here for the time being.

"Let's…go," Blake said as she resurfaced, seeing both Ruby and Yang passed out on the ground.

"Thank goodness you're here," Weiss said, apparently genuinely concerned for Blake, "Um, these two collapsed shortly after you left. It's just like you said, the toll of [Burning Blossom] must have been too much."

"We'll have carry them in then," Blake said, in such a cool manner that the Schnee heiress was unnerved. "You'll carry Ruby, she's lighter." Weiss suddenly rose to her feet. So nervous, she was like a new recruit, kinda like Blake at some point. Perhaps that was why the cat-girl decided to help her carry Ruby. "Like this," she said as she lifted her ex-team leader and leaned her against her new team leader's back, "Pull her hands towards your chest, kinda like a sweater. Good, now thrust your hips and lift her." After instructing her, Blake lifted Yang in a fireman carry, ready to move her partner.

"Wow," Blake said once she was on her shoulders, "Ruby wasn't kidding about her being hearty."

"Thanks, for your help" Weiss whispered shyly, as they descended into the ruins, "Um, you're really good at this. Erm, do you... do it often?"

"Yeah, all the time," Blake responded, calmly, not affected by Yang's... err, personality? "A guy made fun of my bow once, this skill came pretty handy when I dealt with him."

"I'm joking," the cat-girl said with a giggle after noticing that Weiss had stopped abruptly, "I didn't have the bow until recently." She wasn't really joking though, she had carried several of the White Fang's dead by herself, dragged many screaming out of the battlefields, even carried Adam back once. That time was a joke though, he lost a bet and had to bear the embarrassment of being lugged back to home on her shoulders, she still had a picture or two of that on her scroll, fond memories. Fond memories, maybe that was why the Schnee who trailed meekly behind her wasn't as irritating as usual, why the very insignia she wore on her combat skirt didn't enrage her.

Whatever the reason, that was the case, and both girls were happy about it, Blake felt relieved from a sort of burden, being at someone's throat constantly was hard work believe it or not, and Weiss felt like she had been given a reprieve for the first time since meeting this mysterious girl.

"Here," Blake said as she dropped Yang gently unto the floor, "We'll weather the Wave here, it's the best possible position in these circimstances."

"I'll take your word for it," Weiss said, as she collapsed to the floor with her team leader. "Want some?" the Schnee heiress asked as she handed Blake some chocolate. The Menagerien princess already had a few rations, a habit from her days as a soldier, but this was a Twisco bar. But she wasn't supposed to have chocolate, caffeine made her do crazy things. Then again, she was already fraternizing with a Schnee, so it wasn't like things could get much crazier than that.

Shortly after, Blake was running about like she was crazy, and Weiss was following her, unable to keep up with the much more agile Faunus. Thankfully, she wasn't excited beyond common sense as she made sure their unconscious teammates were always within sight. "Blake, if you don't calm down, you won't get any more," Weiss said as she twirled a Twisco bar above her head. "Ahh," Weiss shouted as Blake tackled her to the ground. "Okay, let go," Blake gigled wildly, as Weiss held unto her, trying to restrain her, "Wait, I saw something."

"Where?"

"There," Blake said as she escaped the Schnee's grasp and bounded once more into the halls. "Get back here," Weiss shouted after her teammate annoyedly, chasing her before tripping on something.

"Ow!" Weiss said as she inspected what she had tripped on, it was a crate, an old one. "That's interesting," Weiss whispered to herself. "What is?" asked Blake who had returned to her teammate's side, seeing that she was no longer being chased.

"The logo on the crate reads Merlot Industries, at least it looks that way," Weiss said, a little unsure, "It's not really legible, but I'm fairly sure, I've seen it a couple times."

"And?"

"Nothing really," Weiss said, "Just that my family actually has a deep relationship with Merlot Industries."

"Really?" Blake asked, strangely fascinated, "What is it?"

"Well..." Weiss dragged her sentencwe as she jumped unto the cat Faunus, putting her into a death grip, "Got you this time."

"W-wait, I saw something," Blake said.

"I'm not falling for that... again."

"Seriously, I sa-" her sentence was cut short by a roar from deeper in the ruins, it made the two girls quiver, Blake jumping into Weiss' arms like she was a 60's cartoon.

"Go to sleep girls," came a voice from behind the two before their eyes closed and they fell to the ground.

"Time to do this then," Raven said, taking a battle stance in the direction of the roar that had come earlier after she had moved Weiss and Blake out of the way.

"That was a lot easier than I expected," Qrow said, replacing Harbinger on his waist, that was, after he had split the last of the Cauldrons in two.

"I'm scared to imagine hpow you expected it to go then," Cardin said, exasperated after their raid on the Cauldron cave.

"How's Shouter doing?" Cardin asked to Adam, who was carefully scanning the young Faunus' body for injuries, of course, that didn't take much scanning as he was covered in them.

Ironically, it was good that the intention of the Grimm was torture, as injuries would be inflicted with the intention of delivering the most pain, rather than killing the victim. This was apparently the good news. "He's okay," Adam responded annoyedly, "As okay as someone who just survived a torture session can be."

"Alls well, tha-"

"I know what you did," Qrow declared, cutting the Winchester scion short, "I witnessed all of it. All of it."

The tension that this statement created was palpable, this was bad, to put it succintly, Cardin was screwed. Qrow's statement implied that he was talking about more than the Slytherin 'prank' if that were the case, then expulsion would be merely wishful thinking.

"Seems that I've been caught," Cardin said composedly despite everything, "I simply want it stated that I initiated everything, everyone else involved was coerced into doing it."

"No, we weren't" said Russell, who had appeared suddenly with his teammates.

"What are you guys doing here? More importantly, how did you know to come at this exact moment and how did you know what I said even though you're just arriving?"

"Bad writing, I guess," Dove inputted, "Makes for a tenser scene, but doesn't make much else, least of all any sense. Although, introducing my semblance will actually explain your first question very nicely, and the second one can be chalked up to us knowing you so well."

"The author is actually holding off on revealing your semblance till when it can have a more of an impact on the story," Qrow said deadpan, apparently a part of this conversation, "Which is to say, that he hasn't come up with a name for it yet."

"Good thing too," Adam added, "I question your relevance to the story after this arc since you just called the author a bad writer."

"Just forget it," Cardin shooed. "I'll take care of it."

"But C-"

"Enough, now more people are going to drop this fic because of this ridiculous scene, just leave it at that, I'll take care of it."

Team CRDL, without their leader, a phrase they ought to get used to, left immediately, almost as though they were written out of the story.

"We'll discuss your punishment later," Qrow said malignly, "Whatever you're thinking, it's much worse."

"Either way," Qrow said, "So long as he's okay, I'll contact Beacon, they'll send transport for us as quickly as possible, in the meantime, I'll go and get team RWBY."

"Wait," Adam called, before coming close to the man with a struggling beard, "How come you called... her?"

"The Black Wave hit Vale, Merkel to be exact, your professors at Beacon have moved to help, so there wasn't much of a choice. Not to mention she's more capable than most," Qrow paused for a second, "What's with your strong aversion to her though? Last I checked, you were... close or something."

"Well..." Adam said as leaned in and whispered something into his ear.

"You're kidding," Qrow said, "You stole it?" he knew this kid was good, but he actually felt genuine respect for him now. No one could steal that sword.

"That would explain why you'd rather avoid her," Qrow added, feigning disinterest, "Either way, I'm going to pick team RWBY, transport will be here shortly, so stay put."

"Is a Grimm cave really the best place to lay low?"

"Majority of the Grimm are still in the Wave, only the more intelligent ones would have stayed behind, and they'd be cautious of venturing too close seeing as we just eradicated scores of Cauldrons."

"I'll take your word for it."

BOOM! There was suddenly a large explosion it happened a few dozen kilometres off from the Cauldron cave they were in. it was in the direction that team RWBY had gone.

"Hey, sis," Qrow said to a lady donning a Grimm mask and somehow carrying four girls on her shoulders.

"Hey Qrow, nice to see you too," Qrow mimicked jokingly at Raven's lack of response. Although, her bad mood was understandable, the four girls stacked on her shoulders weren't light, throw that in with the rips and burns on her clothing and a small clump of hair that was missing, anybody would be in a bad mood.

"You owe me big time," Raven grumbled as team RWBY tumbled down her shoulders.

"I do, but Yang is your responsibilty too."

"Don't give me that crud, you know the deal."

"Of course," Qrow said, "But crud is the only way to extend the otherwise short conversations between us. I'm sorry, I actually didn't mean to say it like that."

Qrow was clearly frustrated, he violently reached for a small flask in his pocket, uncapping it suddenly and raising it to his lips. "Stop," Raven said as she held her brother's arm, preventing him from tilting the flask's contents into his mouth.

"But if-"

"Doesn't matter," Raven said, "I'm here, so we'll deal with it either way."

"T-thank you," he whispered, as he formed a fist in frustration, "I'm still a burden after all this time."

"You are," Raven said as she ruffled his hair, "Lucky for you, I'm still great at carrying you."

"Seems that hysteria affected me a little too," Qrow said as he attacked the tears forming in his eyes, "I'm usually not this emo."

Raven simply laughed gently at her brother's joke. "Those ruins the kids found are of Merlot Industries," she said to Qrow's shock, "I blew everything up already, but you are free to investigate it yourself after these ones are returned safely."

"You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"That would explain why the Grimm were avoiding them. It's pretty unnerving to know that people made something that could even scare off the creatures of Grimm."

"I saw the monstrosities that were purported in those reports, they're worse than I imagined."

"Sharing this information wasn't part of the deal though... You didn't need to."

"Take it as a gift from your big sis."

"You know I'm like seven whole minutes older than you."

"Keep telling yourself that," Raven said as she squatted back to back with her brother, awaiting the transport that would take him and her daughter home.

"Qrow made quite the discoveries didn't he?" Ozpin asked after the man in question had left them.

"An understatement sir," Glynda responded, clearly worried, at least clear to Ozpin, to anyone else, she was just adjusting her glasses. "For part of Merlot Industries to resurface, especially at this time is no small matter."

"The day is not without its benefits though," Ozpin answered.

"Yeah, we found out that one of our students is a racist who would go through great and dramatic lenghts to kill off his classmate. And another is still a terrorist, but with a reliance on apathy which makes him a lot more volatile in the long run. Imagine being more volatile than a terrorist."

"It's still a weakness that we can leverage," Ozpin said as he stacked sugar cubes on the rim of his mug and watched them fall in with a satisfying plop.

"We can just sick Raven on him though," Glynda said, apparently not as bothered as to let a good joke pass by.

"Yes we can."

"What will you do about Winchester?"

"Expulsion is much too lenient, he should actually be jailed for inciting a Black Wave," Ozpin said seriously.

"The fact that you're telling me what should happen, tells me a lot," Glynda answered, "Not the least of which is the fact that you have no intention of doing what you just talked about."

"You know me so well. You're right, I have no intention of punishing him, not conventionally at least. He has so much potential, and more than enough baggage to sabotage himself. Those are two dangerous characteristics to introduce into the prison system."

"You are worried that he will go from a child acting out to a full-fledged criminal, rightfully so. However," Glynda said as she paused to push her glasses back up her nose, "Actions have consequences, he has to be punished."

"Certainly," Ozpin said, "Eventually." The grey-haired principal got into a staring match with his assistant, their gazes packed a lot more dialogue than the preceding conversation, it was though they had some sort of ocular language. At least, that's what Glynda thought, Ozpin had been merely imitating her frowns and squints.

"At the end, you'll do what you feel you must," Glynda said with a shrug, apparently convinced by their illusionary conversation, "We'd probably all be dead if you didn't."

"Thank you, Glynda," he said to her solemnly as the blonde assistant walked out of the office.

"This is much worse than anything I was thinking," Cardin grumbled, in his seat next to Jaune and Shouter. It was the day after the Forever Fall field trip, all students had been accounted for and were no worse for wear. All except Cardin and Shouter, who would be recuperating off campus. That was the official story anyway. In reality, this was Cardin's punishment, he'd be on a team with Shouter and Jaune and they'd all be enrolled into Shade Academy. This was a common occurence in Remnant; teams being seperated. Four years were required for each individual to complete their training at a Huntsman Academy, many a student didn't last that long; some were too injured to continue, some too traumatised, some too dead, others simply gave up, or were moved to other academies that were better suited for their talents. This was the sad reality of the glamorous Huntsman Academies. Cardin was actually rather lucky, despite coming from a fairly powerful family, the consequences of what he had done would be disastrous, but instead he was given a slap on the wrist, all he had to do was take care of that whiny little snot, and Shouter too.

"Not in the mood, Cardin," Jaune grumbled, depressed at the thought of such a long sail to Vacuo, not to mention he had to so while travelling alongside Cardin and a Faunus who seemed to be vying for the title of barfboy himself. Jaune felt bad, not because he was leaving, he had to do that, but because he was too much of a coward to tell them himself. By the time they heard anything, he would already have been headed to Vacuo. He cursed the fact that he was so weak, and swore that he would become stronger so that he'd never have to hurt someone like this again.

Shouter was really, really confused, he understood why he was being sent to Shade Academy, he desperately needed to toughen up. He ended up being a burden, he was the only one other than Ruby, the fifteen-year old, who needed to be saved at any point during the ordeal. What he didn't understand was Cardin; the boy had attempted to poison and brutalise him all while being racist, but later on, he had also tried to save his life and had come willingly to his rescue. It was all very confusing to say the least.

Either way, all three of these people were determined to make the best out of the oppurtunities they'd been given, they didn't know what exactly that entailed, but they knew that they'd do it.

In Forever Fall, just outside the ruins that team RWBY had taken shelter in, a sultry lady and a giant of a man stood over the corpses of two Valean Huntsmen, their blood still freshly spilled. "Raven was right," Cinder said, a little annoyed, "The entire facility was destroyed."

"At least she was able to grab a few samples of Merlot's serum before that," Hazel stated, "Let's go, there's nothing for us to do here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, credit where it is due; I got the idea for Jaune leaving from a lot of different fanfics that I never really started reading, but was interested in the concept. I got the idea for the Winchester family earning their money through theatre from a few of Adel Aka's parodies where Cardin is a movie star.
> 
> I'm actually planning on naming and creating a few semblances, I wonder if I should do a poll for some of them, what do you guys think? Also, any questions about combination moves and other elements that I've introduced are welcome.
> 
> Have a nice one.


	7. Didn't Learn Anything

A redheaded faunus with blue eyes stood in a file alongside his peers, they were all about nine years old, glass-eyed and emaciated. They were all workers in Campis Inquinavi, an SDC mining colony based just outside Mistral, and today was the day, the oppurtunity for some of them to redirect their fates forever.  
The children stood in front of the mine supervisors, who inspected them closely, though what they hoped to see behind all that smog and grime on them, was a mystery. They must have seen it, because they ushered the children foward to another supervisor, who had some sort of red tincture that he pushed down their throats. It was bloodsworth, a drug that helped people unlock their auras, forced it out was more like though. It was a dangerous to forcefully awaken an individual's aura and would most likely damage their potential, so much so that it was illegal in the kingdoms. That wasn't a problem here though, they didn't need soldiers with great potential, they just needed soldiers.  
*  
"Jaune did what?" Pyrrha asked her grey-haired principal, though she had heard exactly what he said.  
"Mr. Arc accepted my offer of a temporary transfer to Vacuo's Shade Academy. Although the possibility of a permanent enrollment does exist."  
"Why would he do that?" Pyrrha asked, although she was sure that she didn't know who the question was directed at.  
"Well," Ozpin said, carressing his prized mug, "Because he's a weakling, and a terrible excuse of a leader, and he was unsatisfied with that."  
"That's not true," Pyrrha said in agitation, "Jaune wasn't terrible, even if he was a little behind, we were working on it, we were making progress."  
"To be perfectly honest," said with a disgusted face upon realising that it was instant coffee in his mug, "Mr. Arc is one of the least competent students ever admitted into Beacon, and while you admittedly made some progress with him, your biggest accomplishment was self-gratification, because although it made you feel better about yourself and maybe scored you a few lady points, it would have led young Mr. Arc to his death should he ever be as unfortunate as to face any real threat."  
"W-what?" Was this true? Had she just been using Jaune so that she could feel better about herself? She didn't think so, those things had never even been on her mind when she reached out to him, but what if that was actually the truth?  
"You needn't feel so bad, Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, although his voice lacked the expected sympathy.  
"Why not?" she whispered angrily; angry at herself for being such a hypocrite, at Ozpin for pointing it out and Jaune for knowing and keeping it to himself, for leaving without telling her why.  
"Because you're stronger than that, you're not going to sulk about how bad of a friend you were, you're going to be a better friend, a better person, a better leader."  
"Leader?" she asked, to which Ozpin responded with a nod.  
"You ask me to be a leader just after you showed me how unfit I am for that role," said Pyrrha with a mirthless smile.  
"What is it that Lunarists say? 'The key to peace is enlightenment and the key to light is-  
"Refinement and refinement comes from revelation. And so, in everything, examine yourself and the awareness you gain from this will strengthen your heart and guide your light to your brother."  
"Exactly," Ozpin said waving off her apologies for interrupting him, "You know better, so you're going to do better. I have no doubt about that."  
She hoped that he was right.  
*  
"Good match," Mrs. Goodwitch said as the two background characters who had just finished their match shook hands and returned to their seats. "Next match is..." she declared while watching the Randomiser. "Team JNPR vs Team CRDL," the machine read. "Seems that I've not recalibrated it yet," the blonde teacher said with a frown, "You can opt to skip today's duel, the circumstances are... understandable."  
Understandable they were, it had only been a few days since both teams lost their leaders, giving them some time to adjust was only fair. Personally, niether side needed adjustment, it sucked not having a leader officially, but it wouldn't stop either team from focusing on the reason they were here. "Thank you, Mrs. Goodwitch," team CRDL said, although it didn't affect them all that much, they weren't going to miss an oppurtunity to dodge the dreaded duel especially since they would have to face the Invincible Girl, they shuddered thinking about what had happened to all four of them in canon and were convinced that even though they had stronger characters in this fanfic, the same didn't apply for their abilities.  
"I actually don't mind a duel," Pyrrha 'Mary Sue' Nikos said, much to the chagrin of her teammates, who had already resolved to miss any actiities whenever the oppurtunity presented itself, "Could it be one on one, instead?"  
"Why not, Miss Nikos."  
Pyrrha whispered her desired opponent into her teacher's ear, as though too shy to call the person out by herself. "Mr. Vulpes, do you mind stepping into the ring?"  
Adam was a bit surprised, but he still walked over to the locker rooms to change into his gear silently before returning, ready to duel.  
"Ready?" Mrs. Goodwitch asked, to which the only answer was a nod from both of them, the pair so involved in the anticipated battle that they didn't spare a glance to their teacher. "T-t-time to duel!"  
The two jumped right into battle, or they would have if they didn't stop for a second to stare and wonder at their teacher's choice of words. But after that they jumped right into battle.  
It was a short battle, after many intense blows between the pair, Adam was knocked down and out of the ring. Nobody ever lasted long against the Invincible Girl, but they usually lasted longer than that. Team AMEN bowed their heads in shame, so did everyone else, it was pretty embarrassing for the class rep to be taken out so quickly. No one was more disappointed than Pyrrha herself; for the past few days, team WRBY had described their experience in Forever Fall, and a part that was never exempted from the narrative was Adam's role in their survival. Not only did he lead them, but he cut through droves of Grimm by himself. Based on their descriptions, she had expected an awesome match, but the reality was something more disappointing than God of High School.  
Adam lay down on the floor, wondering if he was overdoing it. He definitely was, Ozpin alongside a number of staff and students already had an idea of his power level, so hiding it didn't serve too much of a purpose, but at the same time, it wasn't wise to show them too much. And so, he decided to lose every fight quickly to avoid both giving his enemy more material to study, and trouble from his 'peers'. It was a decision he made with full knowledge of the consequences, not least of which would be the utter and irrecoverable damage to his pride.  
It was okay though, he was used to throwing his pride away wasn't he?  
*  
"What do you think happened with Adam earlier?" Yang asked as the group filed out of the class, she was confident that not even the Invincible Girl could take Adam down after she had seen him dispatch so many Grimm just a few days ago.  
"Most likely," Weiss said, while stroking her chin wisely, "He's injured from overstraining himself in Forever Fall, Cardin and Shouter were sent off campus to recover from the ordeal, I can only imagine what state Adam, who was defending both of them, must be in right now."  
"That makes sense," Blake said, agreeing with the Schnee, "Still, it must be quite the serious recoil if he fell so quickly." It was the strangest thing, and it had started just after they returned from Forever Fall, Blake had suddenly taken Weiss' position as a tsundere and was making the part her own. From giving her notes after class to sharing a table with her because: 'The others are too noisy, it's not like I want to sit with you.' Blake's attitude had done a 180 in terms of Weiss, although she would never admit it. Weiss was happy nonetheless, she finally felt like she was fitting in, like she was part of their team.  
"I'll go check on Adam, you guys go ahead," both brunettes of their team said at the same time. Both Weiss and Yang, cocked their brows questioningly, it wasn't strange for Ruby to want to check on Adam, the two had been close since orientation, but why did Blake want to check on him?  
The cat faunus was quite literally saved by the bell, as its ring sound prevented her nosy teammates from peppering her with questions since they were all too busy running to Grimm Studies.  
*  
After the closing bell had been rung, Adam walked back into Glynda's Basics of Battle class, ready to clean it up. He told Ruby to deal with homeroom, he wasn't in any kind of mood to have company right now. It seemed that that wasn't in the cards, as he saw Mrs. Goodwitch walked out of a supply closet in a corner of the classroom. "I'll leave," he said as he began retreating with his supplies.  
"There's no need for that," she responded as she arranged a few files on her desk, "I'll be leaving soon."  
"Okay then," he responded as he got to work on the floor. It was a silent job, the only sounds being the scratching against the reinforced floors and the shuffling of papers on the desk. It was supposed to be a silent job, Mrs. Goodwitch was unaware of this fact unfortunately, as she broke through the silence with a question. "What was with your terrible performance earlier today?"  
"I'm assuming that this conversation is going to proceed under the assumption that I don't know that you've been spying on me since I got here."  
"Of course not," Glynda said with a small laugh, as graceful as one would expect, "But you're still a student , a dangerous and unpredictable one but a student nonetheless."  
"And?" Adam queried, his annoyance climbing with each word exhanged.  
"And this is Beacon," Glynda said with her arms slightly outstretched, as though it was obvious, "We pride ourselves on betterment, there's not a single person who has passed through these four walls and hasn't been better for it."  
"You actually believe this."  
"Of course I do, we may not be able to save everyone, unable to do everything, but we'll get better with time, eventually, we'll save the world."  
Goodwitch had one the frostiest auras he had ever seen, but under that exterior hid such childish fantasies?  
"What about you Mr. Vulpes?"  
"I'm fighting for equality," Adam said, "Even now."  
"Why, though?"  
"I didn't know that a reason was required," he responded dismissively.  
"Ever heard of an interactive session?"  
"I fight so that what happened to me," he said as he pointed to his eye beneath the mask, "Doesn't happen to any other faunus."  
"A good a reason as any," she said as she strutted out of the classroom, "My office is always open in case you actually want to convince yourself of your answer."  
What did she mean by that? He knew why he joined the White Fang didn't he? And all three years of it, he had never doubted himself, he still didn't. Then why was a human's statement bothering so much? He didn't know, but for the first time since he became class rep, he left his duties, and turned off his scroll, he wanted to be alone. There was something familiar about it, it was distant, but at the same time recogniseable.  
*  
He woke up alone in a room, if you could even call it that, it was a 2 x 2 metre area, much too large to be a single one, it would 'comfortably' fit at least eight faunus usually. And this one came with the most comfortable thing ever, a bed, a real bed with a soft and firm mattress, he was sure there were other things in the room, but he couldn't concentrate on any of them because of the euphoria he felt from the bed. Not to oversell it, but it was the best thing ever made, which begged the question of why he was on it.  
Last he remembered, inspectors were feeding them something, it wasn't food, certainly wasn't, some of the children who took it collapse in an epileptic frenzy, though sometimes the food there did do that. Those ones were dead, he knew that much, it should have bothered him more than that, but he had seen it so many times; some slipped, some were crushed, some were flogged, but all of them were dead. It didn't faze him, that was why he assumed that he was dead at this point, he was much too comfortable to still be in the mines, and he saw others die, so maybe he joined them. Either way, since he was already dead, he saw no reason to get up, he saw no reason to ever move again, the mattress was that comfortable.  
That was until a few hours later, when the hunger pangs began knocking. No one told him he'd be hungry even when dead, so he walked out of the room, his only hope being that if the beds were so comfortable, the food would be great too. So he walked out of the room, unbothered with the consequences such a careless action would have since he was dead anyway, it didn't occur to him that if he could get hungry, he could certainly be knocked upside the head.  
"So you're up," came a voice from outside the door immediately he opened it, he shut it immediately after, but the person's foot stopped its momentum, and he stepped in. "That's good," the man who had a clean grey supervisor uniform said as he grabbed Adam's chin and inspected his face, "Follow me." The two walked out of the room, Adam trying and failing to keep up with the man's steady gait. Adam was confused, he was taken to a room with a few other faunus children, just as dirty and grimy as they had been earlier, less glassy-eyed though, they seemed like completely different people, they no longer had the hopeless vibe they had carried since they began working in the mines, they had all gotten to sleep on a bed after all.  
All of them were quickly filed into showers, and scrubbed thoroughly. Adam discovered parts of his body he didn't know he had as they were always covered in grime before today. Too bad, the bath didn't last long, but they were then all given snazzy black uniforms, the fabric was soft, as soft as a bed, it was great.  
"Enjoying yourselves?" came a sultry voice that knocked the children out of the wonder and amazement of good clothing. The children nodded seriously, the lady's strong aura taking their full attention. "That's good,"she said, as she bent in front of the one of the children and place her palm unto her chest, "Lemme show you something." Immediately she said those words, a bright blue light shone from the girl, starting from her chest, and spreading to the rest of her body, it was her aura. Adam remembered now, some of them fell to the ground after drinking the liquid, while others exhibited a phenomenon similar to the girl's just now... then, they passed out. That would mean that he wasn't dead, but that was as far as his understanding went, because life wasn't this good, it wasn't good at all.  
While he mused, the lady had made her way in front of him, and did the same thing she had done for the other children. Adam's dark aura burned broodingly, it was impressive, it certainly wasn't the best, but it was still impressive.  
"Do you understand what is happening?" she asked after she was done with all the children. "You are all slaves," she said, as she caressed the surprised face of one the children, "You all belong to the Schnee Dust Company."  
Adam understood what a slave was, but nothing else; he didn't understand why slaves were dressed in clothes much more valuable than they were or why she was explaining their position to them.  
"Fear not though," she continued, "There's a chance for all of you to become more than slaves. Your auras, your semblances and your servitude are all that is required. Follow me, and I'll explain more."  
"Your auras are those bright lights that came out of you earlier," she said as she walked them out of the room they were in and into a hallway, "They make you much more valuable than the average slave, same with your semblances, but I will explain them in detail off-screen as the author already did that and we don't want to make the text too long."  
"Technically," said one the supervisors who was tailing the flock of children, "He explains it in the future though."  
"We're defeating the purpose of skipping the explanation if we're still just extending the text by breaking the fourth wall."  
"You're right ma'am, but it's the writer's fault, doesn't he know that some moments are serious and that breaking the fouth wall during them kills any and all tension during the scene?"  
"Moving on," the lady said, "So long as you continue to serve, you will all one day enjoy complete freedom."  
The kids were young, they'd spent the last three or four years of their lives jacked up on apathy, but they weren't stupid, freedom was merely a lie. "I can see your disbelief," she said amusedly, "But had I told you that you would wake up on beds, be given showers, and dressed in such fine attire, would you believe me? Alas, you have witnessed it yourself, so have a little faith why don't you?"  
"You see, Campis Inquinavi, the mining colony we're all in is outside the kingdoms. What that means is that we're all very susceptible to attacks from the creatures of Grimm, some of you may not be all that familiar with them, but rest assured they're the worst thing you will ever meet. Consequently, we need a constant inflow of soldiers who can defend this very profitable SDC enterprise. While it may be more reliable to train people using Huntsman Academies, it is much more expensive and takes at least four years, but with you little darlings, everything is so much easier."  
Adam got so little out of that explanation that he felt it was more for the benefit of the readers than anything else. He understood that he was a slave though, and that he only needed to be subservient to earn his freedom. Whatever that was.  
*  
"I've been waiting for you," Adam had wanted to be alone, but it clearly wasn't going to happen though, Pyrrha's statement just now was all the proof needed.  
"And what can I do for you, Pyrrha?" he said, lacing his statement with more sarcasm than was healthy.  
"Why did you throw the match earlier?"  
"That's an interesting way to describe my complete and utter loss to the Invincible Girl." Not to mention that it didn't answer his question.  
"Don't call me that," the redhead responded tensely.  
"I apologise," he said mildly, while eyeing an escape route, "But I don't know what to tell you regarding our duel."  
"You know, Ruby won't stop talking about you," Pyrrha said, "That entire team seems to think so highly of you. None of them mentioned that you were a coward though."  
The ex-White Fang general responded with the crazy, edgelord kind of laughter that seemed to be his signature response to ladies who annoyed him. He rushed at the lady in question, throwing a gloved fist at her, although she blocked it easily. The two stared deeply into each others eyes, their gazes locked for 60 second moments. "I see," Adam said smugly before dropping his fist, "Pyrrha Nikos, the pride of Mistral, winner of the Mistral something or other four times in a row, a Peter Pumpkin cereal advocate... You know that cereal really isn't healthy for you."  
"Get to your point," she said irritably.  
"That was a quote from the Argus Digest, praising Mistral's brightest star," Adam said as he moved up closer to her, "But they failed to mention this bad habit of yours."  
"What are y-"  
"I noticed it first in the Emerald Forest," he interrupted, and smirked on seeing her flinch in response, "Your fight against the Deathstalker, a formidable foe, but hardly strong enough to bother someone with your achievements. 'Was the praise given to you just hyperbole?' I wondered. But then we got to fight against that Spider Droid together and I concluded that that wasn't the case."  
"Why were you able to do so well against the Spider Droid, but so hopeless against a DeathStalker? The answer was easy enough to get." He paused, drawing his answer out dramatically.  
"You call me a coward," he said, "Coming from a liar like you, that really hurts."  
"No need to interrupt yet, I'll explain... How do I say this? It's best to frame it as a question," he said while stroking his chin, "You could have taken that Deathstalker down by yourself, but you didn't, why?"  
"I-I don't understand what you mean," she responded in confusion. She could've taken it down, she wasn't injured that day, she wasn't distracted or overwhelmed, so why couldn- didn't she.  
"You don't? Okay then, how did you feel when you beat the Grimm with your teammates?"  
"This is stupid," Pyrrha said as she pushed past Adam, "You're just trying to get under my skin."  
"Trying and succeeding," he said with a smile as the warrior girl retreated for him. She, of all people, was calling him a coward? "You aren't wrong though," he whispered.  
*  
"Why do you think we didn't help him?" a girl with short brown hair and a pair of mouse ears asked as she looked at Adam. She was referring to the slave whose corpse was being dragged away by a supervisor, the same slave the two had watched get beaten until he was a corpse.  
"'Cause we're slaves too," Adam said back, "And we're smart enough not to forget that."  
"Doesn't it bother you... watching something like that?" she whispered, angry at something, "I couldn't sleep for days last time."  
"You didn't do anything wrong," he said irritably in return, Why was she talking about this now? They'd been watching this for over a year since they were 'promoted', she always expressed her disgust for it, but she was asking obvious questions, questions that no slave liked to be asked.  
"I still watched it didn't I? That's all it takes to have a nightmare?"  
"You aren't wrong," he responded, looking away from her, "Let's go see the old man, someone that ugly is bound to chase the nightmares away." It was hard to believe that it was more than a year since they first slept on a real mattress, since they were 'promoted' to higher slaves. A clean bed, a study desk, classes between shifts, food that tasted, it didn't always taste good, but it tasted. It was amazing to even imagine that they were part of this sort of life.  
The two faunus ascended from the mines and into the town that rested above it. This town held all the mines 'employees' from the lowest of slaves to the senior supervisors. They were entitled to this only because it was given to them, it was their responsibility to never forget who owned them and let that direct their every action. A few minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of a forge, the only one in the town.  
"Hey, old man," Adam said as he moved into the smithy, "Dead yet?"  
His crass question earned him small punch from Sheena and a horseshoe to his face from within the shack. "Seems not."  
"Of course not," said an old man, who limped out of the back of the smithy to meet the two 'brats' at the door, "I'll outlive both of you." Despite his limp, his voice and basically everything about him, the man was actually not that old he was in his 40's at the latest, that didn't stop his being known as the old man all around the settlement, must have been due to his great personality. "Of course, sir," Sheena said politely, as her gaze locked unto a scrap of metal in an corner, "Is that...?"  
"Yup," the Old Man said proudly, as he brought it close to her, "It's a piece of Atlesian pyrrhotite, the purest sample one can find." Sheena's eyes turned into saucers in glee as both of them talked away, Adam simply took a step outside the shop while they conversed, he had no idea what they were talking about. Sheena was very knowledgeable, only as old as Adam, but she knew more than even the older slaves. That was part of the only reason the two interacted; he followed her everywhere because it was dangerous to move about the mines alone, especially for a girl, he wouldn't be too much of a help, he was a ten year-old, but he always had a sword strapped to his waist, so he was a deterrent nonetheless. In exchange, she would tell him something new every night, something strange, something exotic, something he'd probably never get to see.  
A lot of what she told him was written in books in the small library in the centre of the settlement, but he needed to train constantly or he'd really never get to see any of them in person. Besides, Sheena told the stories better than any books could.  
"Move!" one of the older slaves said as he rushed past and pushed Adam to the ground. The red-haired faunus' hand move instantly to his blade hilt, ready to start a fight. "Adam!" Sheena called out, knocking him back into his senses. This was the second part of their arrangement, she was there to make sure that Adam didn't do anything stupid.  
The boy seemed to possess the stereotypical bull's rage, he had never known before, because the apathy kept him under control, but without it he needed something else, because insubordination would not be tolerated. They were still slaves, valuable ones, but slaves nonetheless, and there would be no hesitation to toss them out if they ever forgot this fact. That was where Sheena came in, her semblance [Suggestion] was a vocal one that was able to create suggestions as the name implied. So using a keyword, she could influence another to a particular action. In Adam's case, she only needed to call his name to calm him down.  
"Thanks," he said as he got up to his feet, "...Again."  
"No problem," she said, "Will you be okay by yourself? I need to go get something alone." This had been happening of recent, her leaving without any explanation by herself. He was naturally helpless to complain, because it was a verbal agreement, and he couldn't as well force her to stay. "When will you be back?" he asked in reservation.  
"Soon," she answered, more vaguely than was fair, but Adam simply shrugged it off, she wouldn't tell him more if he pressed her, he only hoped that she wouldn't do something stupid.  
"The little lady's shook," came the old man from within the smithy, "What happened?"  
"Saw someone get killed," he responded unworriedly, "Probably just buck-breaking." Buck-breaking, few words have ever embodied the wickedness of man like those pair, slaves need to be reminded, needed to be reminded that they were slaves, they were less than men, they were property and that their only purpose was to carry out whatever task they were given. How did you remind them of that though? How did you remind them that they were nothing? Well, you showed them.  
Supervisors picked slaves at random and tortured and degraded them, it didn't matter if the slave had done anything wrong or not. Some supervisors seemed to enjoy it, some were sympathetic, some didn't care, they were property, it didn't matter.  
"I see," the old man said sadly, "What a shame."  
"Lemme guess, you think that I should have done something too?"  
"What do you think the source of all evil is?"  
"Don't really believe in that," Adam said, he knew the word, but it was one of the more complicated ones, it had so many different meanings, "Don't understand it well enough to say... Creatures of Grimm? Bad people, maybe?"  
"Evil comes from complacency, when we don't actively fight darkness, it spreads and consumes and breeds evil."  
"I'm okay with that," Adam said, looking at the old man squarely, "Do you know why I don't react to buck-breaking? Because the same would happen if the cards were turned, because I'll only end up getting myself killed. I'm not going to give my life away for anything or anyone, especially when it's not going to yield anything."  
"You and the lady won't be together for long," the old man said as he retreated into his shop, "She sees the world much differently than you do, she should, she's seen a whole lot more than you have."  
"Perhaps," he said in response, thinking about the future wouldn't do much for him, for now, it was okay just watching the sunset.

"You didn't have to wait for me," Sheena said on seeing Adam at the entrance of the smithy. "If you insist," he said as he rose to his feet, "Finish whatever you were doing?"  
"Uh, yeah," she responded nervously, "Sorry for keeping you waiting."  
"The old man wanted me to give you something," he said as he pulled something out from his pocket.  
"Are you kidding?" she said as she saw the bright red pyrrhotite sample he had retrieved from his pocket.  
"What does it do?" he asked, "Other than glow that is."  
"I'll show you once we get inside," she said as she led him back to the slave quarters.  
"Clasp it in your hands," she said excitedly, as soon as they entered his room, "Now pour your aura into, only a little, slowly if not it'll be problematic." Her directive earned her a cocked eyebrow from the red-haired boy, but he did as she said. Suddenly, the mineral's glow bathed the entire room, "Wow!" Adam said, wide-eyed.  
"That's not all," she said as she placed her hands under his. There was a gentle hum in the air, small pieces of metal in the room started moving slightly and the two children's hair stood on end and waved almost like they were underwater.  
"It's kind of romantic, don't you think?" Sheena asked.  
Romantic? He wasn't sure what the word meant, but he couldn't ask her, it might ruin the mood, not to mention he never asked her for more than one thing every night. "Yeah," he said, hoping she couldn't tell that he didn't know the word, even though she always did.  
"Adam," she said silently, "Do you want to kiss me?" Now he knew that he knew what this word meant, if only his brain hadn't shut down. She took his silence as an answer, and leaned in towards his face, her hair waving into his, meeting before their lips did. It was a short kiss, shorter than an FC Barcelona player, but it was electric, though that may have been the pyrrhotite. "By the way," she whispered into his ear, "This is what 'romantic' means."

"I'm sorry for that," Sheena said as he escorted her to her room. Adam had been struck dumb since the kiss, if that was what it was called, he couldn't remember what the word meant for the life of him. "It's okay," he said, not wanting her to feel too uncomfortable, "I mean, it's... better than okay." He was scratching his head in a nervous gesture, she didn't know he had nervous gestures, he didn't know that he had nervous gestures. It was all so strange.  
"See you tomorrow," he said as she walked into her room. She didn't respond, it was strange, but so was the entire night, so he just shrugged it off and went to sleep.  
At least he tried to; he just couldn't remember what a 'kiss' was. He finally rose from his bed, determined to find out. He slinked out of his room and went towards the library, it was a good thing that it was always unlocked. He rushed in, scanning the sections for a dictionary. Even though he wasn't very literate, Sheena had ensured that he could use one, and armed with the pronunciation of the word, it only took him several minutes to find it.  
It read: "To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to express love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting." So, they had certainly kissed, but what did that mean? He checked another dictionary, it had nearly the exact same definition, but the sentence attached to the definition read: "Kisses are the messengers of love and tenderness." Did that mean that she loved him? Did he love her? Did they love each other?  
"Love: an intense feeling of affection and care towards another person," he whispered to himself, at least he could remember what that meant. Since they kissed, that meant that they loved each other and that meant... He had no idea what that meant, but he'd find out, if he had to spent the whole night there.  
*  
"Are you okay?" Blake asked, managing to locate her former partner, who was seated in the school garden, caught up in his reverie, "Ruby was convinced that you had been kidnapped, I nearly got carried away for a second myself."  
"Why did you join?" Adam asked, knowing that she'd understand what he meant.  
"You already know I was born into it," she said, "It seemed like the right thing to do. Having a part in liberating your entire race... sounds like the stuff superheroes do doesn't it?"  
"Why did you leave then?" he asked, not answering her question.  
"Before you came, we weren't making an impact," Blake said, "...Once you did, we did make an impact, but with the blood of others. It was like no matter what we did, we always got it wrong."  
"And now? Are you going to give up because your other attempts failed?"  
"Never," she responded quickly, "...But I don't know what to do, to be honest. For now, I'm just here to keep my head low, and figure out my next move. I wasn't fit to be a soldier, not in that kind of war. Who knows what I'll find out about myself?"  
"Interesting," he said as he rose from his seat, "Thank you for that."  
"Any reason for the query?" she asked as she kept pace with him.  
"I've been having doubts of my own. You helped me understand something."  
"And that is?"  
"That I don't understand," he said with a small chuckle, "And that for the first time, I'm in a place where I can take time to understand, so I'm going to try my best to do so."  
"What's got you thinking so much?"  
"I couldn't say for... sure," the pause in his sentence was as a result of seeing Pyrrha Nikos, for the third time too many today. Was she stalking him?  
"Could both of us talk... alone?"  
"I'd really rather not," he said until Blake grabbed him by the ear and pushed him toward her. "So you would betray me in such a manner?" he asked her.  
"Be grateful, it'll give Ruby time to cool down," she said as she walked away from them.  
An awkward silence settled between the two redheads, he stared at her from behind his mask. She really reminds me of her, he thought, he felt that he had been repressing the thoughts, but he saw it more and more with every meeting. She had the same innocent eyes, the same self-righteousness, the same carelesssness. Perhaps that's why he was so aggressive against her.  
"You asked me how I felt after we defeated the Deathstalker," Pyrrha said to Adam.  
"Actually, I was just venting then, so there's no need to bother yourself with what I said."  
"You're a great leader," she said, "If you believe what team WRBY says. I want to be something like that, and a certain old man brought it to my attention that the only way to do that is to tackle my flaws."  
"Please," she said with a cheesy main character bow, "Help me do that."  
Adam rolled his eyes behind his mask, but still decided to help her. "You felt good after defeating the DeathStalker with your friends, you felt like you were part of a real team," Adam started, "However, whether you did it consciously or not, you held back against the DeathStalker, allowing your friends to chip in and consequently making them feel as though you weren't some unapproacheable demigod. You didn't want to scare them off with your excellence, so you nerfed yourself, so to speak so that you would accept you."  
"Don't get me wrong," Adam continued, "As a leader, you're going to have to nerf yourself a couple times to make your team look better or to allow them do more, but your intention wasn't teamwork, you didn't give your best, and one of your friends could've gotten hurt just because you wanted to fit in."  
"Thank you," she said labourously, it wasn't easy to learn dark truths about one's self, "What about the other thing? You said that my reaction earlier confirmed something for you, what is that?"  
"Nothing important," he said, "I'm going to keep that to myself."  
"Can't convince otherwise?" He shook his head in response.  
"Sorry for calling you a coward," she said apologetically.  
"Don't be," he answered back, "Few words have been spoken that were as true. I've been a coward for a long time."

*  
The sound of bells woke up the whole of Campis Inquinavi, bells were never good, all the slaves descended into the mines, ready to do whatever was required of them. "Welcome all!" shouted Helena, the most senior supervisor of Campis, Adam had hardly seen her since she introduced them into their new roles about a year ago, if she was here, then it was certainly something bad. "You may not all know this," she continued, "But some of you have been stealing supplies."  
Adam's eyes started searching for Sheena urgently; he had a terrible feeling about all of this. "Now, don't get me wrong, I understand, sometimes the rations aren't enough, your friend needs medicine, etcetera. I'd do exactly the same thing... Which is the problem, I would do the same thing, you don't get to make decisions like I do, you don't get to put your needs or your friend's needs or any other flipping person's needs above mine. Men get choices, slaves take orders."  
A small group of faunus were led to the stage that Helena was on, and as everyone reading this expected, Sheena was there with them. Adam knew what was coming, he had seen it happen time and time again, Sheena was going to be broken.  
Above all else, Adam cared for his own life, he couldn't risk it for her when nothing would be yielded from it and yet, he needed to know; he needed to know what she meant by that kiss. Even during all this, his curiosity still burned, it was a terrible itch, Sheena was the only one who could scratch it, she would be dead or broken if he did nothing now, she would most likely still die if he did do something, both of them would. But, maybe he could get the answer before that happened. He neglected to ask himself if the answer was worth it, he just pulled a throwing dagger from his belt, and threw it at Helena. Since she had placed the younger slaves at the front to 'educate' them better, it was a clear shot. That didn't mean it was going to work.  
"Thanks, babe," Helena said to a tall man that caught the blade midair, "You know my weakness is small, low-trajectory knives." Adam jumped immediately after the blade, and struck the man square on the face, but he was an adult with a strong aura and Adam was a kid with a not so strong aura, so it needn't be said how it played out, although I'm going to describe it anyway.  
Adam was thrown away by a slap from the man, the slaves moved to restrain him, but the man ordered them to move aside, Adam's lesson was going to be personal. It definitely would have if the boy hadn't been knocked silly by that single blow. He couldn't stand, but he really wanted his answer, so he did, or tried to and collapsed once more. At this rate, both of them would die and he would not get his answer. His body was being rained on by a flurry of kicks and he really wished that his sword was a shield, because most of the blows missed or glanced it.  
He was too determined to lose, but he was losing either way. He just really wanted his answer, and his aura was reacting to it, while it had been whittling away slowly at first, it suddeny started to grow with each hit.  
Suddenly, the growing aura burst out in a red wave, pushing back the man attacking him and others in close proximity. "Sheena," he whispered as he somehow got to his feet before falling back down and passing out.  
He woke up in a nice, furnished office, at least it was nice until his gaze locked unto the Senior Supervisor, Helena. "Adam," she said with a machivillean smile, "Let me explain what is happening. During your attempt to... I'm not sure, take out everyone in the mines, then escape right into the arms of the Grimm, I guess, you exhibited what seems to be your semblance. I've explained this before, a slave with aura is really valuable, but a slave with a semblance is... well, more valuable than that. That is why you're still alive."  
"Could I talk with Sheena?" he asked politely after making sure she was done.  
"Who?"  
"She's one of the people you were going to punish this morning," Adam said.  
"How cute," Helena mocked, as she grabbed a fistful of bright red hair and tugged, "But I've explained this to you before, slaves don't get requests."  
"But they do get oppurtunities," she continued, after letting his hair go, "You have an oppurtunity to increase your status and be on the fasttrack to freedom. The girl is dead by the way, all of them are." Such was the life of a slave, so inconsequential that mentioning that a whole group of them were killed didn't warrant being said in another breath.

Adam was shocked, but that much was to be expected, he didn't understand why he imagined that they would not be punished after his unsuccessful breakout attempt. His temper didn't flare like it usually did, there wasn't any rage, but whatever it is that he was feeling was much worse, in his anger, he always jumped forward not caring whether he'd win or not, just wanting to get his hands on whoever was in front of him. This time, he was going to win, everyone here, everything was going to burn. "My only purpose is to be at your disposal," he said wearily, exhausted from everything that had happened.  
"Good," she said, "There is a punishment attached to your insubordination, follow Nikolai here and that will be all for today." Adam followed resignedly, whatever punishment followed, he was now an asset, it would be terrible, but he'd live, he wouldn't be broken.

"Hey, kid," said the old man as he walked towards Adam who lay on his bed, on eye covered in a bandage, "How're you holding up?"  
"I was just branded to remind me that I am nothing but property," Adam said dryly, "I always wanted a tatoo on my face. So much so, that I insisted that they sear it in so that it would never fade."  
"I'm sorry," he responded, not sure what else to say. "Before Sheena... left us, she wanted me to give you this," he pulled out that red sample of pyrrhotite the two were with last night, "She said that she thought you were brave a-"  
"Brave: Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage," the bull faunus repeated this sentence a few times, the old man actually thought that he was in shock or something for a while.  
"No matter how many times I repeat it," he said, "I can't see myself being 'brave'. I've been a coward for a long time, I'm not going to stop anytime soon."  
"What? But, bu-" This was supposed to be the moment when Adam decided that he would fight for equality for his people, that he would never allow the same fates that befell Sheena and him to befall anyone else. "But look where my cowardice got me right?" he said pointing at his bandaged eye, "This is supposed be a lesson right? Engineered by some god or other, to teach me the error of my ways... But I'm too peeved to even care, I don't care enough to acknowledge this lesson. I have other plans."  
"Revenge?"  
"Slaves aren't permitted revenge. Haven't you been paying attention, old man?"  
"And by the way," he said as he threw the sample of pyrrhotite back at the man, "Don't need the momento, I won't ever forget any of this."  
"You know," the old man said as he left, "The little lady would be sad seeing you like this."  
"It didn't bother her enough to stay. That means she doesn't get to complain." This is when he was supposed to become a hero, but that didn't matter to him, why should he care about something like that? He paid for his complacency, the scar on his face and the hole in his heart were the evidence, the only thing left was to make sure that everyone else paid for theirs too.  
That was Adam, he had no answer, no friends, no understanding, but he had a purpose, a mission. It was as hollow and base as missions got, but it was a mission nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never written a romantic scene before, I personally hate writing them but tell me how you think I can improve on it. Somehow took liberties with both Pyrrha and Glynda's characters, tell me what you thought about that too. I know she's like everyone's dream waifu or something, but I feel the alterations are more of explorations as they are consistent with the character's motivations. But once again, I'd like to hear from you.


	8. The edicts prescribed

"The Vytal Festival, Remnant's most important celebration of culture," began Professor Oobleck, "Instituted in the aftermath of the Great War, it serves as a reminder as the edicts prescribed in the Vytal Peace Accords the most important being…"

"The founding of the Huntsman Academies to ensure peace," Munachi Anene, the leader of team MOZS, said, taking the Professor's pause as a go-ahead to speak, "The development of the Cross Continental Transmit System, to ensure communication, the colour naming tradition, to address the restraints put on self-expression preceding The War and the abolishment of slavery to ensure the equality of all men and women." Her last point earned a snort from Ollumi, her teammate and partner, but she pretended not to hear.

"Exactly, Miss Anene," the green-haired Professor praised, "The Vytal Festival serves to not only remember, but celebrate all these things, as they serve as milestones in the civilization of man as a whole."

"Now," Oobleck said while adjusting his glasses, "Who has a poster for the Vytal Festival here with them?"

"Here," a student said as she pulled one from her desk and offered it to the professor.

"Hold on to it," he said, with a halting gesture, "Could you tell me what's wrong with that poster?"

"It reads 'annual' when it's actually a biennial festival?" she asked nervously, her question earning a small roar of laughter from her classmates.

"Yes, but not quite the one I have in mind," he said tetchily, "Anyone else?"

"I know," said Ollumi from his seat next to Munachi, and rose once he got permission from Oobleck, "The Vytal Festival purports to be a reminder of the edicts after the Great War, including equality and celebration of diversity, its symbol is a combination of the emblems of all the kingdoms… except Menagerie's."

"Despite the fact that humans and Faunus are apparently equal, they aren't represented in Remnant's largest and most important cultural festival."

"Exactly," Professor Oobleck said, "That's exactly the point I was looking for."

"But Professor," Munachi responded, "That's a rather one-sided observation, Faunus have participated freely in the Vytal Festival for decades, not to mention that Menagerie doesn't even have a Huntsman Academy and most importantly, it is basically a terrorist nation."

"You're referring to the popular acceptance of the White Fang all over Menagerie," Professor Oobleck responded.

"Yes," she responded fervently, "Everyday, more and more districts drop Menagerie's flag in favour of the White Fang's. The citizens have accepted a terrorist organisation, the councils would have to be raving mad to represent terrorists in the Vytal Festival."

"Permit me saying," Zakin, the final member of team MOZS, and Shouter's former partner, said in his almost brooding manner, "The progressions you speak of happened only over the past three years. The Vytal Festival is a nearly century-old institution, the fact that Menagerie has not been included in it all this time is one that begs many questions. Though to be fair, Menagerie has been rather independent of the influence of the kingdoms since the Faunus Right Revolution, so their lack of involvement could be voluntary."

"This," came Dr. Oobleck's voice, "Is the essence of History; the search for truth. This is precisely why this is going to be your assignment."

"Each team must proffer one representative," he said while pointing to the script that was suddenly written on the board: "The Edicts of the Vytal Peace Accords; Do They Hold Up To The Principles They Purport?"

"That person will write an essay as well as present their piece before the class," he continued, "This assignment is worth 30% of your grade. The representative does not have any obligation to express the views of his or her teammates, it will be their essay, but the entire team's grade will be determined by it. The method by which you choose your representative is up to you."

With those words, the doctor sped out of the class, his departure immediately followed by the closing bell.

"Hey, Adam," Ruby called out to her red-haired class rep as she approached him, "Can I take a rain check on cleaning today?"

"Sure, how come?"

"Weiss has ordered us all to a mandatory shopping session," she said with a small smile.

"You seem to be getting along better," he said as he gathered his books from his desk.

"Yeah, ever since Forever Fall, everyone stopped staring daggers at each other. Whenever I ask Blake what happened, she turns red and changes the subject, Weiss isn't forthcoming either. I guess that's just the power of Burning Blossom."

"It must be," Adam said, "Let me not keep you waiting, enjoy yourself."

"Thanks a bunch," she said as she turned into a red blur.

"That's one issue down," he said under his breath. He remembered the conversation he had had with Ozpin a week or two earlier.

*

"Am I in trouble Principal Ozpin?" Adam asked as he walked into the grey-haired principal's office.

"No need to be so formal, or sarcastic," Ozpin answered, dropping his mug unto the table, "As for whether or not you're in trouble, that remains to be seen."

"Ominous," Adam says jokingly as he takes a seat.

"Are you aware of the chain of robberies that the White Fang has been involved in over the past couple weeks?"

"Of course, news spreads, not to mention that majority of your students are more fit to be gossips than Huntsmen."

"Do you have any idea as to the reason for their change in tactics?"

"They usually avoid sending progress reports when you're a deserter," Adam said, to which the only answer was a glare from Glynda. "Got it, no jokes. I would have to assume that they've moved bases permanently out of Forever Fall, our base of operations while I was in charge, and into Vale. Making it impossible to move in and out of the city anytime they wanted."

"But still," the ex-general continued, "Unless recruitment is going a lot better than anticipated, we wouldn't need nearly as much dust as they've been reported to be stealing."

"Their behaviour is unprecedented," Ozpin said, "Although they're clearly avoiding Faunus-owned shops, the White Fang has always attacked large enterprises and avoided individuals, even during the Massacre."

"Not to mention that the human owners will make it even harder for the Faunus whose shops aren't being hit, even the customers will likely think it as a conspiracy of sorts, the best shot they'll have is to sell it to the humans at much lower prices."

"Very contradictory to your mission to say the least," Ozpin said while steepling his fingers, "The work of a copycat? Someone trying to frame the White Fang, perhaps overtly enthusiastic admirers."

"I doubt it," said Adam with a shake of his head, "It's been weeks, any copycats would have been taken down or absorbed depending on the situation. Either way, I'll check it out if you want me to."

"You're willing to do that?"

"Of course," Adam said, "I'm worried about the White Fang, but where I am is where my allegiances are… You seem to be surprised by this."

"That probably stems the fact that I don't understand the sort of man you are," Ozpin said as he leaned in closer to the redhead, "So, what is it that you're here for?"

"I'm here because I believe that this is the best way to help my people. I want the White Fang to be more than some terrorist group."

"I see… it would be helpful if you could get any information regarding the Fang's strange behaviour," Ozpin said, leaning back into his chair with his mug, "I'm assuming that you'd rather be alone for this?"

"You assume correctly," Adam said as he rose, "If I need to contact you urgently?"

"Here," Ozpin said as he passed him a black scroll, "It's part of a disconnected network, so there's no chance of it being hacked. I'm sure you've done recon before, so I won't bother you with anymore instructions."

"Okay then," Adam said, "This'll probably take a few weeks, beyond finding out the reason behind their behaviour, I also want to look into their new chain of command."

"Of course."

*

Presently, Adam pulled his personal scroll out of his pocket and initiated a conversation:

Adam: You're busy?

Pyrrha: No, why?

Adam: Need help with something, can you meet me at the Statin Plaza?

Pyrrha: Sure thing.

He ended the conversation and started another one.

Adam: Let's go.

Neo: No way to talk to a lady is it?

Adam: You're many things, Neo.

Neo: -_-

Adam: I'll be at Statin Plaza, bring Emerald with you.

*

"What did you want help with?" Pyrrha asked as the group stood outside an ice-cream hut in Statin Plaza, a little way from the docks. "Besides making sure that Neo doesn't assault the vendor, that is," she added on seeing Neo stare intensely at the vendor as he carefully scooped layer upon layer of her order.

"Before that, how's your team? You didn't have a prior arrangement with them?"

"Not really, Nora is hanging out with team CRDL or DLR (Dollar), and Ren is enjoying one of his few free days."

"Part of the leader thing is to spend as much time with them as possible," Adam noted as he got started on his own cone.

"Yeah," she responded, "We all have plans to spend the day with each other tomorrow, we're all from Mistral, so we're going to hit some of the tourist spots later on."

"Okay then," he said, "To answer your question, you know that some Shade Academy students are showing up today, including the very noble Princess Adele, fourth daughter of King Anulavi."

"Yeah?" Pyrrha asked, not understanding where he was going with it.

"I was thinking that sending the Invincible Girl to welcome a princess would be more… appropriate than sending an unnamed class rep."

"I'd prefer if you didn't call me that," she said, trying to keep her smile plastered on.

"Apologies, bad habits, I guess," he said, clearly not bothered, "What's your answer?"

"I would be happy to," she said, as she finally had a go at her ice-cream, "What flavour is this? It takes like sugar flavoured card-board."

"It's Peter Pumpkin's Unknown Adventure promo, the flavour's a mystery," he said with a small smile, "Careful, if people see a Peter Pumpkin ambassador nearly retching at the taste of one of their products, they might question the brand's quality."

"They probably kept the flavour a secret to avoid prosecution," Pyrrha said even though she still took a bite, "It's somehow even worse than the cereal."

"Why be an ambassador if you don't like their products?"

"Why do you enjoy probing me?" she asked, "I'm not in the mood for another enlightenment on how terrible my character is."

"Anyone would be interested in The In… interesting things?" he said, trying a save after nearly using the forbidden word on Pyrrha.

"Maybe another time," she said as she took another agonising bite from the ice-cream.

"Either way," he said, "I'll escort you to the docks and welcome the students with you, before I take my leave since I have a rather urgent errand to run."

"Sure. What about those two then?"

"They have plans of their own, we'll leave them to it once we're done here."

*

"Just to clear things up," Yang asked as the group made their way to the docks, "You dragged us out on the pretense of shopping just so that we could spend our Saturday with the fishes?"

"I just want us to welcome the students coming in from Vacuo!" the white-haired girl shouted in defence.

"More like spy on them," Blake said with a giggle, her voice not carrying the familiar criticism that it usually did.

The group turned a corner and came face to face with a damaged dust shop that had been cordoned off for an investigation.

"Robbery," one of the detectives said to his partner, "Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."

"They left all the money again."

"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?"

"I don't know, an army?"

"You thinking the White Fang?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

The short conversation that was overheard by team WRBY set a tense atmosphere that was all too familiar to this group. "Um… fish am I right?" Ruby asked, trying to break the tension, "What a funny word, fiiiiish, yeah."

*

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos and I'll be your guide for today," Pyrrha said as she welcomed the students who just got in, "This is our class rep, Adam, he's indisposed now, so please allow me to show you around Beacon and Vale." None of the students seemed to have any complaints regarding this, they were actually excited, why have an ordinary class rep to welcome them when the Pyrrha Nikos could do so instead? Their friends would be so jealous.

Adam gave a small nod of thanks as he turned to leave. The fact that he wasn't watching where he was going was probably part of the reason that he ran into someone, was what any bystander would think, the fact that the two people who collided exchanged pieces of paper before righting themselves and apologising to each other would have disproved this observation. Fortunately for Adam, no one witnessed this discreet exchange.

The paper read: 'VSR-143', Adam simply nodded as he walked into a bookstore that wasn't far from them and walked out once more a few minutes later, or rather, skipped out. This was strange, the people who had been tailing Adam since he left the school also thought so, but they didn't allow that to stop them from following their charge.

If they did, they may have seen the very Adam Taurus walk out of the door he came out of moments ago and head back to the docks. He walked into one of the boats that the students had filed out from with the excuse that one of his classmates had forgotten something and he was looking for it. He walked into one of the cabins and was followed in by two men who had apparently been waiting for him in the corridor.

"Adam," the man said, his fedora and trench coat while giving him a sufficiently shady appearance, didn't hide how large a man he was.

"What's going on?" Adam asked, skipping pleasantries, "I hear that the White Fang is nothing short of a band of thugs at the moment?"

"General Banesaw has been doing al-" the other man, who seemed to be more like a boy said loudly, before his sentence was cut off by a glare from the two adults in the room. Understanding the message, the youth left his two generals alone with a salute.

"You have, have you?" Adam asked amusedly after turning his gaze away from the child.

"The human we're allied with," Banesaw began, "Torchwick, he seems to have taken over the Vale operations. Not surprisingly, your departure and the Belladonna's desertion left them with few experienced soldiers and majority of them are the newly recruited from within Vale; thugs and children. Hardly Faunus that would understand our goal well enough to defend it from the likes of him."

"Still," Adam queried, "There were some of our soldiers, the human shouldn't have been able to seize control of our ranks so easily."

"I instructed them to just go with his plans until I arrived. After all, they threatened us into working for them, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to weed out those that went against them."

"I understand," Adam said, "You're going to take over operations here then?"

"Yes," the seven-footer said with a small nod, "I made ample preparations to ensure that our Vacuo operations won't suffer too much from my absence. Sheena's also coming in from Atlas with an SDC shipment, we're going to take over. So there's no reason to worry about the robberies, they'll end soon."

"You're pretty intimidating now."

"Think so? I've been doing tons of image training."

"Yeah," Adam said, "Especially since you talk so deliberately, almost slowly. Makes every word hit more."

"Thanks," Banesaw said as he scratched the back of his head.

"You're still a total marshmallow though."

"I know," he responded meekly. Adam had merely been throwing jabs at him, the man that stood before him was much bolder than he had been when they had first met.

*

It was back in Campis Inquinavi, two years after Adam had unlocked his semblance and been given his 'opportunity'. The Faunus boy was stood taller and firmer, he was almost like a soldier, his grey uniform displaying his rank as a supervisor. He moved quickly through the settlement, it had hardly changed, same buildings, though a few more had been erected to cater for the ever-growing population of the mining colony. This difference was hardly noticeable though, Adam simply noted that everything was duller, maybe it was the perpetual red hue his eyes, at least the one that wasn't behind his turban mask (think Baki from Naruto), always seemed to be set to, it could also be the apathy that he had been taking to ensure that he didn't fly into a rage, most likely though, it was the frustration that came from having been unable to achieve anything in the last two years.

He had been promoted, but that was hardly his goal, every day he made a small step and every day he was reminded just how pointless it all was: from sabotaging equipment, to making sure that some slaves weren't given sufficient apathy, it was all for naught. The camp was simply too strong, it was a powerful structure, no one man could take it down. But what was the alternative?

If he didn't do all this, his continuous quell of rage would dry up, he couldn't let that happen. He walked into one of the supervisors' quarters, it was a normal cottage, close to the library, separated from the other quarters; it was Helena's.

Ever since he had unlocked his semblance, his value as a slave skyrocketed, his training had become more and more serious, he had even succeeded in taking down a fair number of Grimm, not without support of course. He made his way towards her study, ready to report that he had returned from his last mission.

"We need to keep something so dangerous in the colony?" asked a man quietly.

"There's a large number of slaves to test it on, so of course we're going to keep it here," a voice that seemed to be Helena's responded calmly, "You know why it's important that we accept this request."

"The risks though…"

"The results Nikolai, isn't that what's important? The quicker we get over with this, the quicker we can leave all of it behind." Adam knocked on the door, interrupting the two adults' conversation before being beckoned in.

"Did you bring it?" she asked, waving off the Faunus' greeting.

"Yes ma'am," he said as he pulled out a small Beowulf figurine from the satchel on his shoulder.

"He's just going to throw this away you know," the man who was called Nikolai complained with a small smile.

"I told Nigel to make it out of linder," she said as she pulled the figure from Adam's hand, "It'll glow in the dark, so it'll be difficult to lose."

"Oh yeah," Adam said, "He told me to tell you that he's a blacksmith not a toymaker."

"Really?" she asked as she glanced at Nikolai. "Honey," she said with a fake pout as she grabbed unto the man, "Your brother's being mean to me."

"You're the one being mean," he whispered exasperatedly, "Giving someone who's as proud of their craft as Nigel menial tasks like toy making."

"You too?" she asked as she ran behind Adam, "Help me out Adam, they're all being so mean." The redhead silently scanned Nikolai, knowing that he wasn't bothered by any of it, but hoping that he would be. Ever since that day, when he had taken Adam down with ease, the Faunus boy had always been looking for another avenue to test his mettle against him. This clearly wasn't it though, as Nikolai would never start a fight over something so small.

"Oh, no reaction?" Helena asked towards Adam, "A beautiful woman just thrust herself into your arms. Where's your blush, your ruddiness?"

"Probably waiting for someone who isn't old enough to be his mother," Nikolai whispered under his breath, although it still earned him a glare from his wife. This was how they got along, two years ago, Adam was a slave, he was nothing, his life, dreams, opinion, voice… none of those had mattered. But now, he was treated like a younger brother, that was the difference between a slave and a subordinate.

"Thanks, Adam," he said, trying to change the topic, "Could you give it to him? He's been asking about you."

Adam simply nodded as he picked the figurine up and walked out of the study. Upstairs, he knocked on a door and walked in, despite not having been given an answer. "Oh, you're back," said a black-haired boy, about Adam's age, who was on his bed with a book before him.

"I am," Adam answered tepidly, "Your parents wanted me to give you this."

"Another one?" he asked, "You'd think that they would have gotten the message after I've 'misplaced' so many of them."

"You would," Adam said tersely as he handed the Beowulf figure to him. It was traditional in Remnant, the creatures of Grimm fed on negativity, so from a young age, children were taught to be positive and that the Grimm were nothing to beware of. This culture was facilitated by toys of the Grimm, harmless figures that children could hold in their hands and play with. In this case though, it had the opposite effect as the child was frightened by the figures and 'misplaced' them every time. The average parent would have caught on by now, but not his parents, Helena would never believe or accept that her son was scared of Grimm toys.

"So," the boy said, "How do we get rid of it this time? The old 'I forgot under the bed'?"

"It's made of linder, so that would be difficult to get away with, just leave it at your window, I'll take care of it."

"Thanks, Adam," he said gratefully.

"Don't mention it," Adam said as he sat next to him, "What are you reading?"

"An erebiology book," he said, "It's really cool, there are tons of unique specimens, most of them can't even be found in Mistral."

"I know I've said it before Ethan," Adam said, "But for someone who's scared of Grimm, you are awfully interested in them."

"Studying Grimm is very important," the boy answered with a pout, "Plus, the illustrations are harmless."

"Whereas the toys are simply waiting till you fall asleep before they attack," the sarcasm in Adam's voice, the closest thing to emotion he had displayed since walking into the house.

"Yes!" he shouted in frustration, "Don't you remember-?"

"When one of them attacked you? Yes, it was one of your dad's pranks and he's the only one who brings it up more than you do."

"How're things with you?" Adam asked, after the silence that was ensued by the boy's lack of a response.

"Mom and dad are more set on leaving than ever," the boy said, melancholically, "They even took on extra responsibilities… we're not going to be here much longer."

Campis Inquinavi served a similar purpose to the Huntsman Academies, it produced a fairly large number of 'talented' slaves and transported them to similar mining colonies. The goal of every slave and supervisor in the mining colonies was freedom; the kingdoms were man's only safe haven from the creatures of Grimm, and a life there was understandably vied for. However, for many of them, a life there wouldn't be safe or secure.

For many a Faunus, impoverishment, discrimination and several other factors would prevent them from living an ideal life, but after gaining enough contributions for the SDC, they would not only be given ample compensation and sometimes land to inhabit in the kingdoms, but they would be given verentheid (equality) documents which ensured that they could have access to many a service that were usually restricted to Faunus. This was part of the reason why there were hardly any rebellions among the mining colonies, the benefits of remaining a part of the community were too many. Even those that would never make it to the kingdoms would live comfortable lives, much more comfortable than being a slave or a runaway. And that was exactly why Adam couldn't wait, he couldn't let Helena leave, not after everything he had done over the past two years, his anger could not go unquenched, he wouldn't let it.

"You're certain?" Adam asked, feigning concern.

"Yeah, mom and dad got a new… dangerous undertaking," he said, "The contributions from that will be enough for us to finally relocate. They're thinking Satin, a little ways east of Argus, a nice town, Remnant's 5th largest library."

"Sounds nice," the vengeful faunus responded, "What's the assignment? Must be something huge if you can get into somewhere as good as Satin."

"It's something experimental," Ethan said absentmindedly, "Not sure what exactly, but it's pretty big, a Grimm."

"Really?" the interest in his voice encouraging the boy to continue.

"Yeah, mom left the paperwork in her study, I managed to get a look, but she obviously hid anything that would give the specifics away. Sometimes I think that she's just trying to tease me."

"Either way," Adam said, disinterested seeing that he had no real information "We'll talk later, I need to get back to the forge before I get skinned by the old man.

*

Back in Beacon, team WRBY had just gotten back from what should have been a pleasant outing but was spoiled by the short dialogue between the detectives and an encounter with a monkey faunus.

"I know that you want to say something, so just come out with it." Blake bit to her team leader after they had stewed in awkwardness for a few minutes.

"Eh?" Weiss responded in surprise, not expecting the cat-girl to snap at her like that, "I-it's nothing important, we can all talk about it later."

"Just come out with it," Blake said, calmer than she was a second ago, "It's already up in the air, so there's no point postponing the discussion."

"I was just thinking about our History assignment," she answered meekly, "I was wondering how we were going to choose our representative and what that person was going to say."

"Why? We haven't chosen yet, so there's no need to discuss it now."

"Actually," Yang cut into her partner's conversation, "That's what she said, you're the one that pressed the issue."

"Exactly," Weiss said, gaining confidence after seeing that Yang was backing her up, "What's your deal? Did I do something?"

"You know well what you did."

"You're mad because I called that boy a degenerate?" Weiss asked, as she had noted Blake's displeasure at the time.

She chose to stop then to avoid an argument, and she could do the same now, she could simply apologise, but why should she apologise? Calling someone who stowed away on a boat a degenerate was hardly a sin. Would Blake be offended if she called a trashcan a trashcan too? Above all, she was a Schnee, she wouldn't lower her head for anyone especially not some catty teammate who seemed to be looking for a fight.

"I don't see any reason why I have to apologise for that, is it because he's a Faunus?" Weiss asked, her indignation rising with each word, "Why do Faunus criminals get special treatment? The White Fang are called revolutionaries when they're just murderers and thieves and my teammate attacks me because I called a criminal something that aptly describes him."

"You don't know anything," Blake shouted, "The Fang may be misguided, but they're still a force of revolution."

"I don't know anything?" Weiss asked angrily, her palms nearly bleeding as she pressed her fingers into them, "I'm a victim! I know what the White Fang are, they're not revolutionaries, they're not even just criminals, they're monsters."

"You say that because you choose to remain ignorant of the plight of Faunus in Remnant."

"I don't choose to do anything of the sort," Weiss shouted, "The only ignorant ones are the White Fang and their supporters. Why else would they execute SDC board members? Why would they murder them? They were just innocent workers. Not to mention that my father and the SDC have devoted themselves especially, to helping Faunus for close to a decade."

"Is that what he told you?" Blake's question was met with a slap from the smaller girl. Blake was a Faunus with heightened senses and reflexes, and a veteran of a dozen battles, but for some reason, Weiss was still able to land a hit.

"I'll accept anything," Weiss began, "Insults, accusations, slander… but I won't accept my father being called a liar."

"Humans like you," Blake said as she rubbed her cheek, although honestly, the slap was nothing, "Humans like you are the reason the White Fang exists. The idea that someone else believes something different than you, the idea that you may be wrong about anything, it scares you doesn't it? It scares you so much that you forget reason and you lash out."

"Well, I'll tell you something," Blake said as she began undoing her bow, "We're not going to stand down anymore. Whenever you push, we'll push back and we'll push harder!" The sudden appearance of cat ears on their teammate's head evoked a gasp from the girls of team WRBY.

"Hey, Blake," Yang said as she approached her partner and placed her hand her shoulder. However, the cat-eared girl disappeared, she used her semblance, Shadow and slinked out of the room without her teammates noticing.

"Hey!" Yang shouted as she scanned the room and outside the window futilely for her partner before running out of the room.

"Well?" Ruby queried as she made to follow Yang, "Aren't you coming too?"

"There's no point," Weiss said, although she had been flabbergasted by Blake's revelation, she had composed herself, "You saw how well she scouted in Forever Fall. She's not going to be found if she doesn't want to be."

"Then let's report to a Professor."

"And say what? 'Our friend who's allowed to be off campus on weekends is off campus, she's been gone for half a minute and we haven't tried calling her. Could you take time out of your busy schedule and help us look for her?'"

"What do you suggest then?"

"Nothing, Blake's grown-up, she'll come back when she's ready."

"Not an option," Ruby responded angrily.

"Fine then," Weiss said raising her hands, "Contact Adam and tell him what happened. The two seem to be fairly cordial with each other, so it's not impossible that she'll agree to meet or talk with him."

"Okeydokey, cap," Ruby said as she pulled out her scroll to make the call.

"You ought to get Yang too."

*

"Hey old man," Adam said as he walked into the forge.

"Oh," the object of the address said on seeing the twelve-year old, "I thought it was someone important."

"Harsh," Adam responded, "Not as harsh as number 43, though."

"The brat is going throw that one away too?" Adam simply nodded as he took up his post.

"I wonder why you still do it though," Adam mused as he steadily raised the flame with a bellows, "It's demeaning for a smith of your calibre and he's just going to throw them away. Not to mention the fact that you despise your brother."

"Despise is a strong word," the old man responded as he searched for his pipe, "Not nearly strong enough to express how I feel though."

"I know, despisedness doesn't even begin to cover your feelings towards traitors of our race," Adam said mockingly.

"Shut up and let me tell the story again."

"Once upon a time, Nikolai and I were slaves in this very colony. But we weren't going to take it, we formed our very own rebellion, we weren't content with that treatment and we wouldn't stand for it."

"We were outmatched and headed for our deaths, but that didn't stop us… until one day, Nikolai went on about having met a human and that he was in love and all that nonsense. His actions led our rebellion being captured and most of us being executed."

"He failed us, he shirked his responsibilities and he gets a family and a happy life. All I get is this darned limp and a little snot that I can rant about my grievances to."

"Love you too," Adam said humorously, "Your 112th recollection of that story doesn't answer why you still help her out."

"Regardless of whether he deserves it, I have my responsibilities as a brother. I won't make trouble for my family especially since it won't achieve anything worthwhile."

"You're really big to accept it like that," Adam said, "But revenge isn't meant to achieve anything, I feel bad for anyone who's looking for some kind of fulfilment from vengeance. I believe that vengeance is a duty like any other, you do it regardless of how it makes you feel."

"Duty to whom?" the boy simply shrugged as he turned back to his work.

That boy, thought Nigel, He seems okay, but he says some pretty ominous things from time to time. He remembered what Adam had said two years ago, about having 'other plans', but he was grateful that it seemed he had just been speaking out of grief and shock since he never spoke about it again.

"I have something for you," the old man said as he pulled a long bundle from a corner in the forge.

"M-master," Adam said after unwrapping it and seeing the blade that lay within, "Isn't this one of the swords that was rejected because it didn't fit the client's needs at all? The 'worthless sword' as he called it?"

"Nerium Thorn isn't worthless."

"You named it?"

"Of course I named it, how could such a master piece go unnamed?" Nigel said vehemently, "You don't understand, it's the perfect weapon; every single part of it is deadly. The blade is thin and light, so perfect for quick thrusts but it's equally capable of cutting, it has a compartment filled with poison that is slowly released unto the blade via these small grooves. In addition, the pistols that serve as the cross-guards are detachable, and one of them is customised for firing smoke bullets, in the hilt, ther-"

"It sounds great," Adam interrupted, "But the main issue remains that it's a sword designed for killing people, smoke rounds and toxins don't work on Grimm, none that I've seen at least, and the only thing we kill here is Grimm. Not mention that someone could accidentally cut themselves and it'd be over for them. Why not just create an ordinary sword?"

"I'm a blacksmith, a true blacksmith," he responded stubbornly, "I'm not going to make ordinary works just because that's what's demanded."

"Fair enough," Adam responded as he picked the blade and sheathed it with a bow.

"You're actually taking it?"

"This piece is truly masterful," Adam said, "Even if I might end up not using it, I'd be too jealous if somebody else got it."

*

Adam had a night shift, and he thoroughly patrolled the settlement at least that's what it looked like. In truth, he was looking for an opportunity to slip in through the tunnels that the rebellion had used many years back. From extensive searching and a few clues from the old man, he had been able to discover them, though he wasn't the only one, supervisors often used them for 'illicit' purposes, he had walked in on many a couple getting intimate or a group of friends experimenting with some substance or other.

Thankfully, there wasn't anyone in these tunnels tonight, Helena had been specific about avoiding them. Thankfully, he had been doing this for quite a while, so he was prepared for anything.

The SDC was Remnant's largest dust company. However, it didn't deal in only the production and supply of dust, another major division of the company was its military contracts. They were almost always the sole awardees of contracts from the government of Atlas. This involved a range of experiments, not only using samples of dust, but people and Grimm as well.

The Grimm were humanity's biggest threat, therefore, most weapons created would be geared towards combatting them. Capturing Grimm was a particularly difficult task, experimenting on them was even more difficult, and often futile. Exactly why the field was so lucrative; in a field as important as erobiology (study of the creatures of Grimm; also called Grimm Studies simply), any headway made was not only well-appreciated, but also well-rewarded. The SDC was amongst the few to make real progress in the field and because of this had a steady stream of income from the kingdoms because of their knowledge in crafting anti-Grimm weaponry and measures. For example, they had perfected the apathy drug used in the advent of the Great War by Atlas (formerly Mantle,) in their war on self-expression.

It wasn't strange for things from the experimental division of the SDC to be sent to mining colonies because it met all the conditions necessary for the experiments to be carried out; isolation from the kingdoms, abundance of both Grimm and people as subjects, and large amounts of dust. This instance was strange however, because no staff had been sent along with the subjects and neither had directives been given for how the experiments would proceed.

Helena had considered this, and had sent word to the experimental division, it would take a few days for either the staff or the directives to be sent, so all she could do was wait until then.

Meanwhile, Adam was scanning the tunnels that usually held the test subjects, they were almost always held underground. It wasn't difficult to discover which particular one the subjects were being held in this time, the sound of the creature's breath shook the entire tunnel system; another good reason to not enter them. Adam couldn't believe that this wasn't audible from above. Either way, the bull Faunus still made his way there.

Before Adam stood a few cells in which the different experiments were held. The scene served to reinforce the belief that man was more evil than any other force. Even the Grimm, deliverers of darkness, the very definition of monsters stood silent in their cages. None of them reacted to the fact that there was a child in their midst, they had all endured experiments and acts so treacherous that even the soulless Grimm were broken. This is what man was capable of.

As he walked past, he saw a cage that seemed to be empty, as he inspected it, a pair of eyes appeared suddenly before him, nearly scaring the boy. The eyes weren't that of a man, neither were they that of a Grimm. They glowed a strange shade of green, almost dirty, but rather innocent. The creature stretched out its hand from within the cell, as though demanding for some fee for getting a glimpse of it. Adam didn't have much of anything, but he pulled out half a bar of chocolate that was in his pocket and handed it over to the creature before backing away, remembering that he had work to do.

Farther down the passage, Adam saw a vault, it was reserved for the larger experiments, the ones that wouldn't be held by the cells. He walked towards it and could tell that that was where the breathing originated from. It was a deep rumbling that made Adam's heart quiver. Still, he walked towards the door, opened the transom window and looked into the vault.

The boy fell down to the floor, shaking and quivering uncontrollably as he instinctively backed away from the vault door, his mouth opened and closed, his brain communicating to him that he ought to be screaming right about now, but he was too shocked stiff to do so. When he looked in, he had hardly seen anything, its black form was near indistinctive in the darkness, but he had gotten a glimpse of something else. Its eyes were covered with the haze of sleep, but they still burned malevolently, their terrifying light scaring the young Faunus into a near stroke.

It took him several minutes to correct his breathing and calm down, immediately after which he burst into manic laughter; this was exactly what he needed. His two years had been exactly for this.

*

"This is our chance, I'm telling you," Adam said in front of a small group of supervisors, "As long as you can stop apathy from being fed to our brothers for just a few days, we can set all of them free." It was a rebel gathering; the SDC provided great deals, freedom, resources, the ideal life. But what about the lives before that? Many of their lives had been ruined, they'd watched their parents, siblings, children, friends, all of them get killed in their very presence if they weren't good enough or if they stepped out of line. Were they supposed to forget all of it? Not all them could, and this seemed to be the only alternative, they swore an oath to put their lives on the line and sacrifice them, if necessary for the cause.

Adam was using this rebellion for his vengeance; they were mostly naïve idealists that wanted freedom for their fellow Faunus. Adam shared no such beliefs, in his mind, it wasn't a Faunus vs Humans situation, the SDC used Faunus in such a manner because it was low-cost and they could get away with it, if they could use a human workforce in such a way, then they would. His priorities weren't rebellion or freedom, but they didn't need to know that, they'd all die in the name of their revolution, just as they wanted.

*

"Hey Blake," Adam said as he sat down opposite the Menagerie princess in a balcony café as she sipped tea the next afternoon.

"What happened to you?" Blake asked seeing the small cuts and bruises that dotted wherever wasn't covered by his now tattered clothes.

"Work," Adam said as he called for a waitress, "You? You seem… stressed."

"I'm assuming that Ruby already told you what happened."

"Did she?" Adam asked rhetorically, "She was camped outside my dorm room, alongside the rest of them. They're all worried you know."

"I'm sure they are," she said as she absentmindedly stirred the contents of her cup, "You can tell them that I'm okay."

"What happened exactly?" he asked as he called for a waitress, "The Schnee girl?"

"Yes, the Schnee girl," Blake responded angrily, "Along with her snobbishness, her misoneism, and how she manages to carry all of it on such a flat chest." The last part of the brunette's rant made Adam almost snort out all his hot tea.

"What's your plan?" he asked after he composed himself.

"I… am not sure," Blake said honestly, "I'll be back in time for classes next week, but I'll probably be cooling off for next few days. So don't tell them where I am."

"Okay then, but I'll tell them that they don't have to worry."

"Whatever," she said, as she folded her arms and leaned back into her chair.

"Later then," he said as he stood up and walked away, leaving the bill to her.

"I thought he'd never leave," said a blonde monkey faunus who took Adam's seat a few minutes after the youth had left, "Now where were we?"

"Awkward silence and stern looks?" he asked, "My favourite part." His name was Sun Wukong, they had first met at the port, for some reason, he hadn't joined the host of students being guided by Pyrrha and instead had come running off a boat and nearly into their group. Weiss ordered that they give chase, although they ended losing him. Weiss then said some things that ticked Blake off and managed to spoil their entire afternoon.

*

"I just met up with Blake," Adam said, "She's alright, although she does have some strange company with her."

"What d'you mean?"

"There was a weird open shirted guy watching us while we talked," Adam said, "He sat with her immediately I left, but she was friendly… enough with him, so I figured it was nothing to worry about."

"Was he a monkey faunus?" asked Weiss, cutting in from Ruby's side.

"He was," Adam responded, "Either way, she's okay, can't tell you where she is though. I'm also turning my scroll off, so we won't be able to communicate from now on." The bull faunus proceeded to do as he said before any more questions could be asked.

"Back to work then," he whispered as he replaced his scroll into his pocket. He was in the middle of the investigation that Ozpin had tasked him with. At least, that was the official story, in reality, he had gotten a list of White Fang copycats and bases of little consequence and raided them to get 'information'. They would obviously know nothing, but the powers at be at the academy would think that he was hard at work. He had actually turned both his scrolls off completely, but Neo had contacted him using 'other means' and he returned to Beacon and ran into team WRBY.

*

"He hung up," said Weiss, apparently peeved.

"At least we know that Blake's okay," Ruby said.

"Seems like she's more than okay."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Yang, in clear irritation towards her team leader.

"I just mean that doesn't the person Adam described remind you of someone?"

"Yeah," Ruby said, "He sounds like the stowaway than nearly ran into us yesterday."

"Exactly," Weiss said victoriously, "Blake runs away one day, after declaring she wouldn't stand for oppression or whatever social malady she's concocted in her mind and she ends up with the same criminal we ran into yesterday whom she was defending. Seems like too much of a coincidence."

"You're implying that that boy is Blake's criminal cohort? Now you're just being ridiculous."

"You have any other explanations for it?"

"Maybe… all Faunus know each other?" Yang said with a slow shrug.

"Wow," Ruby inputted, "And they call yo racist. Putting that aside though, we know that Blake is okay, but we still can't stop looking for her."

"I agree," Weiss said. The sooner we find her, the sooner I can get answers from her.

The next day, the three girls are scanning the streets for their friend, they were able to enlist Pyrrha, Nora and Ren to join. Though, it was more that they volunteered to help, Nora even coerced team DLR (Dollar) into joining the search. The girls had started at the border of the industrial area and made their way to the port, while the other two teams searched other districts.

"Blake!" shouted Ruby.

"Blake!" shouted Yang.

"You're not helping, Weiss!" shouted Yang once more.

"No, you're not helping," Weiss retorted, "With Blake's abditive nature, shouting her name isn't going to achieve anything. We actually have to have a plan."

"And what?" asked Yang irritably, "Is a plan just going to appear out of nowhere?"

"No Yang, they usually come from our heads," came the voice of a freckled, redhaired girl who suddenly appeared amid the group.

"Ah, Penny. Where did you come from?"

"Where did you come from?" asked Weiss suspiciously.

"Well, my parents told me that I was made in a lab," the girl said plainly, "…Bazinga, you just fell for one of my Penny Polendina-brand pranks, I don't have parents."

The girl's statements left the rest of the group in shock, unsure of what to say after that.

"Was my joke not funny?" the girl asked after a few moments of silence.

"It's not that, Penny, it's just that… we're looking for our friend, so we're all a bit distracted."

"Are you playing hide and seek? I'm pretty good at that too," Penny said energetically.

"No, she's… missing," Ruby answered reining in her annoyance, "And we're all looking for her."

"Oh, I'll help then."

"Lemme guess," Yang said in annoyance, "You're an expert in that too."

"No," she said as she pulled out a tweed cap from her backpack and placed it on her head, "But my friend Shelly Polendina is. Bazinga! It's actually me, I'm also a master of disguises."

"Of course you are," Yang said, "I propose that we split up. Penny should go with Ruby."

"I disagree," Weiss said.

"How come?" Yang asked, "We didn't do so earlier because we were uneven, but that way we'll cover the most area in the least amount of time."

"Because," she said as she called her two teammates into a huddle away from Penny, "Remember when we were chasing that faunus a few days back?"

"Who stopped us?" she continued seeing the two sisters nod affirmatively, "Penny, I tripped over her and lost sight of him. The next day, Blake's with the same criminal and now, we happen to run into the same person that let him escape while looking for her."

"Are you saying that Blake's part of some sort of criminal ring or something?"

"I'm saying that it's all very fishy and that we should probably not leave your sister with someone we just met and whose behaviours are so very suspicious."

"I get your drift," Yang said after thinking it over for a few seconds, "So we go together then."

"Yeah."

"Hey Penny," Weiss said after they were done, "We're ready to head out now."

"Oh joy. I'll do my best to be helpful."

At Vale's Lengdeng port, Blake and Sun watched as Faunus dressed in the White Fang's uniform unloaded a large SDC dust shipment. "There you have it," the blonde thief said to his partner, "The White Fang are truly behind the thefts."

"Possibly," she responded calmly, "But the Fang has always had impersonators, this could merely be such a case."

"Hey! What's the holdup?" a red-haired wiry man said as he descended from the bullhead that had just arrived, "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous gang of thieves, so why don't you animals pick up the pace?"

"A human?" Sun asked, "Why would the Fang be working for a human?"

"There's only one way to find out," Blake said as she descended quietly and snuck behind the human. "Nobody move," she shouted, Gambol Shroud at his neck and ready to do damage should the situation call for it.

"Whoa. Take it easy there, little lady," the human said.

"Explain what's going on here!" she said irritably.

"Didn't you get the memo?" came the voice of a lady who sashayed out of one of the crates, "Mr. Roman here, and the White Fang are going in on a joint business venture."

"General Sheena," Blake said in shock, she may have had doubts, but on seeing one of the organisation's highest ranked officers, she was certain; this was truly the White Fang. Using the moment of Blake's shock, Roman fired a shot to the ground, causing the two people to separate.

"Why are you working for him?" Blake asked angrily as she was surrounded by an increasing number of White Fang soldiers.

"That's hardly a traitor's business now is it?" Sheena responded as she drew two sabres from her sides, "Here's one that's more appropriate: 'Will you make it quick general?'"

"Quick with her?" asked Sun as he descended from his own position loudly, "It took me days to get her to talk, so good luck with that."

"Sun Wukong," the general said with a voice that almost betrayed distaste.

"You know me?" Rather than answer, the general rushed Blake, signalling the soldiers to let them alone and continue their work. At the same time Roman began firing at the monkey faunus although he was able to block the first few shots.

The two students were on the floor in no time; they were very skilled, but hardly a match for the duo they had just clashed with. Sheena raised a blade in the air, ready to dole out the final blow. Clang. Surprise registered on the face of everyone present as her blade clashed with another one. It was a familiar one, Nerium Thorn.

"Two traitors in one day," Sheena said with a laugh, "Sundays are the best don't you think?"

"Adam, what are you doing here?" asked Blake as she got her bearings about her.

"Blowing about three days of hard work," he responded with mild irritation. The arrival of Adam halted the work of the Fang members, as many of them pulled out their weapons, ready to fight.

"Hey!" called out the voice of a pint-sized Huntress in training, surrounded by her teammates and her new friend, Penny.

"Hey, Red," Roman called out, "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Are these people your friends?" Penny asked.

"Certainly not," Yang bit in anger, "But we are going to play with them."

"Oh joy."

"Where did you get those?" Weiss asked, facing General Sheena who had left the fighting to the lower soldiers, "Those are SDC customised made Vienni sabres! They're not yours, someone like you shouldn't have them!" Tears formed at the heiress' eyes, all but begging to spill over, but she held them back, waiting for her answer.

"Roman dear," Sheena said, ignoring her, "If you would?" Immediately, the thief threw a small crate of dust towards the girls and shot at it just before them. Weiss brought up an earth shield with her MADR, just in time to block it, although it still sent her flying backwards. Ruby ran back to check on her, while Yang and Penny jumped down into the small army below them and began ploughing through them. Yang made her way beside Blake and Sun while Penny glided through and somehow made it before the general. "White Fang general, Designation: Unknown, Codename: Red Rain," Penny began, robotically, "For crimes against the kingdom of Atlas and its people, I hereby place you under arrest."

Sheena drew her blades as the only response and attacked the girl who moved back and skilfully dodged all her attacks. "If you will not surrender yourself, I will b-" Her sentence was cut off by the general's boot, as she sent the redhead flying into a crate of dust, creating an explosion. "Forgive me," Sheena whispered as she turned away from her now downed enemy. "Eliminate," Penny said, her voice sounding empty through the blaze she was still in. Suddenly, a bright green beam shot out from the fire and straight for Sheena, enveloping the general.

As the beam dissipated, it revealed a red-haired Faunus standing with his blade before him, and his aura glowing red before collapsing to the floor. Adam had blocked the hit intended for Sheena, but it seemed to be too much for him. Suddenly, there was another explosion, and both of them vanished.

"Adam!" shouted Ruby who had maintained the high ground so that she could snipe their enemies properly. "Fall back!" shouted a White Fang Captain, "The general's okay." The terrorists listened to the command and made away with a lot of dust as the students frantically searched for their classmate and Penny.


	9. Remembrance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Know I haven't posted this year, sorry.

It was Monday morning, and team WRBY were back in school, enduring Grimm Studies while they were worried about Adam. The previous night, the class rep had disappeared after getting hit by Penny’s attack, Penny was nowhere to be found either.   
“The soul,” Professor Port said to his class, as he chalked down the word on the board.   
“For the most part, we’ve discussed ways to combat the Grimm, but today, we’re going to do something a little different.”  
“We’re going to discuss the possible origins of the creatures and one of the more globally accepted, although still axiomatic belief is the connection between the soul and the creatures of Grimm... Could anyone help us to expand on this point?”  
“Many believe that the Grimm’s drive to attack people comes from their souls, or rather, their lack of one,” Pyrrha Nikos said brightly, managing to look perfect even though they had all spent the night looking for their classmates, “Every creature has a soul, though they do differ; plants have a vegetative soul, which gives them life, animals have a sensitive soul, which gives them intelligence and instinct and man has a spiritual soul, which is believed to be the source of our aura and semblances. Grimm however have what is known as an anti-souls, although lower academies simply say that they have none at all.”  
“Very apt, Miss Nikos,” the professor responded happily, “To the rest of the class, her answer is a summary of The Soul Theory put forth by Jastor Gold, one of animamaeitics’ principle authorities. An anti-soul is named so because it is believed that they are driven towards the living by a soul-like existence that is attracted to its opposite in a spiritual soul. This sufficiently explains why Grimm are only interested in man and often ignore animals, reports have even claimed to have observed commensal behaviour between the two. The verification of this theory has proven rather impossible due to the difficulties in examining the creatures of Grimm and the fact that a soul is a rather intangible concept, one that many scientists still reject the existence of.”  
“That means that the same thing that makes it possible for us to fight against the Grimm, also draws them to us,” a student mused loudly in the back, “Rather ironic, I would say.”   
*  
Adam’s eyes opened slightly, his damaged eye seeing only red, the only problem was that his undamaged eye was seeing the same thing. His vision was entirely occupied by a red mist, it had been a while, but it was familiar.   
*  
The twelve-year-old Adam lay on the floor a similar red vision dancing before his eyes through the stupor he was in. What happened? The boy thought to himself. Suddenly, the memories came flooding back to him; everything had gone according to plan, the apathy supply was sabotaged, the slaves had started rebelling, and…  
Adam snuck down into the tunnels, between the ongoing chaos and the fact that he had spent most of the last few days running the simulation of this moment in his head, he was able to arrive at the tunnel entrance quickly.   
The boy stared at the door, and psyched himself into moving forward, he was prepared, he was ready to take his vengeance. The boy rushed in, sprinting through the tunnels as quickly as his bull blood would allow him. The bull Faunus arrived before the vault and clenched the hilt of his new blade, Nerium Thorn, in his hand as he readied his semblance.  
Moonslice allowed him to convert energy into aura through whatever weapon he was using, from kinetic energy or impacts from blasts, he was able to absorb them and convert them into aura for his own attacks. The boy raised his blade that had stored energy from earlier and raised his blade, the weapon burning with his crimson aura as he struck the vault door.   
The result was a vault door with hardly a scratch on it Nanto alloy was a very valuable one, it was incredibly durable, and barring a powerful semblance or mighty ammunition, it would be impossible to penetrate. However, its greatest value was its ability to store, absorb and release large amounts of kinetic energy, this made many attacks null as the metal not only absorbed the impact of the blows, but could send it back with greater force. (Think Vibranium)  
That was the case for most attacks, but Adam’s Moonslice worked similarly as he was also able to store energy and send it at his target. Therefore, even though the Nanto door would send his attack back with greater force, he could absorb the rebound and deliver an even greater force. Just like rallying in tennis, this would go on until one side gave in.   
That was the plan, but for some reason, Adam simply stood there after his first attack; his palms sweaty, his knees weak and his arms heavy. He stayed like this for a few minutes, despite knowing that the distraction would not last long, despite knowing that the longer he waited the harder it would be for him to do it. He was hesitating, he was hesitating because he… he wasn’t sure, he had been working toward this for years, why was he hesitating now?  
“Adam!” a voice called, dragging the boy out of his contemplation. It was Ethan, he was standing right next to Adam, holding his hand and pulling on it. “Are you okay? The uproar is dying down, but they could still use your help, let’s go.” Adam surprisingly allowed himself to be pulled along by the child as they headed for the exit. So this was it? He asked himself as he dragged his feet along the stone floor, All that talk about revenge being my duty, all the planning and manipulation, all of this… just so that I could back out at the last second.   
He suddenly stopped, his one eye scanned the boy before him, and then the vault door behind him. Screw that, he thought to himself as he pulled his hand free, and his aura burst forth, the thick crimson shroud screaming nothing other than rage. It burned with all the struggles of the past two years. Everyone who was even slightly aura-sensitive in the colony felt it, even the Grimm that had been unreactive earlier started getting excited, clawing at their cages and reaching for the source of that rage. Adam himself felt caught up in their beastly furor, feeling a strange euphoria from their excitement and bloodlust.   
Suddenly, a powerful roar shot through the tunnels, it was alike to a cold bucket of water. It shocked Adam out of his Frenzy, sobriety descending on him in merely a second. That very second, Adam grabbed Ethan by the waist and began to sprint out of the tunnels. There was a large boom behind the Faunus as he ran, but he didn’t turn around to see what it was, as though afraid he’d turn into a pillar of salt if he did. Seconds later, he was flying through the air, unsure what had occurred, his mind still in flight and flight mode, mid-sail, his vision was covered in red, and he closed his eyes.   
*  
Presently, Adam was trudging towards Beacon Academy, the clothes he had been wearing, transformed into rags and drawing gazes wherever he went. A few minutes later, he was in Ozpin’s office, forgetting his manners and taking a sofa there to himself.   
“I’m sure that you were aware of the shipment that the White Fang had commandeered beforehand,” Glynda said sternly, “The least that you could have done was inform us earlier.”  
“Because the VPD are renowned for their competence,” Adam responded testily, “They’ve failed to capture the Fang on every occasion. Besides, letting them have the shipment and following them to their new base was a more rewarding plan of action.”  
“It would have worked perfectly if not for your students messing everything up,” he said in annoyance, “Still, I’ve confirmed that both Generals Banesaw and Sheena are in Vale, and they seem to be here to stay.”  
“Sheena and Banesaw?” both Principal and Vice asked simultaneously, although the latter’s voice carried a hint of panic.  
“My former co-generals,” Adam responded, “She’s known as Red Rain in Atlas, he isn’t known as anything outside Menagerie. Many of us actually believe that he’s dead, he’s that careful. Her semblance allows her to squeeze into the smallest spaces, she can go places even cockroaches can’t, he doesn’t have a semblance that I’m aware of.”  
“This information would have been just as welcome earlier,” Glynda said with a scowl.  
“The Atlas military has been dealing with her for months, I assumed that you already had information on her, and like I said, he’s basically a ghost,” Adam said, before pausing for a few seconds, “That’s the reason that comes to mind, but it’s possible that I still have a bias towards the Fang.”  
“Did you find out anything else?”  
“This is very likely their last dust raid,” he said, “All the bases that I raided were getting ready to move, they had all been ordered to leave the heart of the city. They weren’t told where they’d be going though. I was hoping to tail them following the offloading of the shipment. As you know, your students, as well as two others interfered and nearly got themselves killed.”   
“Yes,” Ozpin said, “We’re thankful for your help in the matter.”  
“Hey,” he said as he stood up from the sofa, “I’m the class rep, so that’s part of my job already.”  
“Get some rest, Mr. Taurus,” Ozpin said, “We have a lot more work to do.”  
*  
Meanwhile, Sun Wukong was in Vale’s Infinity Mall ‘jail’, the faunus had been caught trying to steal something and was being detained until the cops came to pick him up. “Get out!” shouted a member of mall security as he opened the cell door, it was the same one who had caught him. Sun had assumed that all mall cops were fat, doughnut-eating sloths, this one was as alert as an owl. Before Sun could even take a bite of his ill-gotten fruit, the man was dragging him to where he would be held.  
“I don’t need to tell you that if I ever catch him again, I’ll turn him over to the cops,” the security man said to an old man who was standing outside the cell.   
“Of course sir, I apologize for the trouble,” the geezer said before turning to Sun, “Let’s go boy.”   
Sun was confident of two things; one was that he had never met this person before in his life, and the second was that although he would use this opportunity for liberation, he was going to be in trouble in he stayed around this guy. There was nothing like a free meal and he wasn’t comfortable with the price that this was likely to carry.  
Immediately the two exited the mall, the old man started walking away from the faunus youth. Sun was genuinely confused, because this was the part where the man was supposed to come forward with his unreasonable demands. Instead, he was putting quite the distance from him, his body language certainly didn’t depict that he wanted the monkey faunus to follow him. If Sun didn’t know better, he would day that this man didn’t like him.   
“Hey!” a lady, alongside her companions, called towards Sun. So they’re behind it, he thought as he walked towards them. On closer inspection, he noticed that the group was made up of faunus, Sun didn’t like interacting with faunus, unless they were hot catgirls, they were usually trouble. That explained why they’d send someone else to ‘spring’ him rather than coming themselves, although the question of why they did was still yet to be answered.   
“What do you want?” Sun asked, in a rare display of hostility.   
“No need to be like that,” one of the lady’s companions, a lad with a rat’s tail said coaxingly, “We simply want to talk.”   
“Start talking then.”  
“It’s not exactly convenient to discuss in the open,” the rat faunus said, seemingly unperturbed by Sun’s aversion to him, “I’m Tilling by the way.”  
“These are my friends,” he added, turning to his two companions, a freckled girl and another, the one who had called for him earlier, who strangely had both fox ears and a tail, “We work for Mig Royston.”  
The last statement seemed to capture Sun’s attention, and he gave Tilling a look that asked for a form of verification, Tilling simply nodded as he beckoned the boy to follow them.   
*  
“Do you think it was a little harsh leaving Nora alone?” Pyrrha asked guiltily to Ren as the two went to their dorms to change.  
“She fell asleep during Mrs. Goodwitch’s class, her fate was already sealed.”  
“But don’t you think that we should have woken her up rather than draw moustaches on her face?”  
“Perhaps,” Ren said, clearly not disturbed, although Nora would let him have it later.   
“Either way,” he said, changing the topic, “I noticed that you’re quite knowledgeable when it comes to animamaetics, a hobby of yours?”  
“Not really,” she answered, “It’s just because most of the theories are based off Lunarist teachings, and you have to be knowledgeable about those if not they kick you out.”   
“That last part was a joke,” she added nervously after noticing Ren’s lack of response, “You aren’t actually kicked out if you aren’t familiar with the doctrine.”   
“Oh,” Ren said, “You’re a Lunarist? It wasn’t ever brought up in any of the tournaments or other stuff I’ve seen you on.”  
“You’ve watched my old fights?” she asked, feeling embarrassed for some reason. Ren was unsure how to react to that though, and decided that to ignore the question. “Either way,” Ren asked, “Is Adam still missing?”  
“Yeah,” Pyrrha responded sadly, the police had come before team WRBY could find him, and they had all been detained before being sent back to campus, so they haven’t had any opportunity to go back and search. Neither have we unfortunately The pair continued talking, unaware that the subject of their concern was dozing off a few rooms away.   
Adam had decided that he was going to take the day off, just like his namesake, he was Never Gonna Leave This Bed. His mind then drifted away and allowed him to remember.  
*

Adam woke up suddenly, shocked that he was alive, he could tell because his entire body was aching and he could smell smoke. The smoke in addition to the sun shining in his now exposed, damaged eye irritated him to no end. Wait a minute, he thought, I’m supposed to be underground, why is the sun in my eyes? He looked around to notice not only was he still underground, but the tunnels had been destroyed, something had broken through the ceiling of the tunnels. “Adam,” asked Ethan who seemed to be just waking up also, “What happened?”   
The redhead wanted to know too, he turned around and saw that the vault door had been broken apart. This confirmed his fear that the Grimm had broken out as he was too terrified to make sure last time.   
He made to stand up, but his right leg did not respond, he looked down and saw that his leg had been nicked. He had been asleep for some time, so his depleted aura should have been revitalized, meaning that the wound on his calf should have been showing signs of closing up by now. Instead, there was no change at all. After several attempts at stimulating his leg Adam was able to walk out the tunnel, assisted by Ethan.   
The scene before them literally caused the two boys to collapse. The entire landscape indescribable, certainly, in part, due to the fact that it had now been destroyed, but mostly due to the fact that the sheer number of corpses that covered the area obscured it. Ethan immediately let go of Adam and ran towards what would have been his mother’s cottage, desperately trying to avoid the cadavers in his path. Adam, who was almost as shocked, ran after the boy, limping as he tried to use Nerium to support his weight. He approached to see that the boy was inspecting corpses one by one, overcoming his necrophobia much too quickly.   
“What are you doing?” Adam asked coldly, his bloodshot eye staring into the boy.   
“They’re somewhere here!” he shouted back to Adam.  
“You can’t possibly know that,” he responded, even colder than before, his eyes narrowing and observing Ethan more and more intensely.  
“I can feel it,” Ethan responded obstinately, resolving to completely drown Adam out from that point on. Adam looked at the boy with something akin to pity for a few seconds before bending down and checking the corpses alongside him. Ethan was shocked, but he simply kept quiet and resolved to thank Adam properly later.   
Adam had attributed his grabbing the boy on seeing that Grimm to instinct, he attributed his following him to the shock of the scene that had greeted them. What did he attribute this to? He wondered. Perhaps it was pity, though it was more likely it was a deeply facinorous part of him, one that took some sort of pleasure from giving this boy pointless hope.   
Hours later, they were still making their way through the corpses, looking for something; they certainly were no longer searching for the boy’s parents anymore, the time passed had made it apparent that they wouldn’t find them anymore. Ethan must have been looking for closure; perhaps he believed within himself that seeing their corpses would help him resolve what had happened in his heart. Adam was looking for closure too, would his vengeance be complete without seeing the very corpses of his enemies? He wasn’t sure, he had never taken revenge before, but he was   
“Let’s stop,” Adam said as he stood up.   
“We c-”  
“Haven’t you noticed something strange?” he asked, cutting Ethan off, “The corpses have been here for hours, they’ve even began rotting...” Ethan was confused as to why Adam was stating the obvious, it didn’t take the hours they dug through the cadavers to infer that much. Was he delirious?  
“…And yet, there isn’t a single fly.” Although he had tried to keep digging as Adam was talking, the realisation surprised him into stopping. That was right, not a single fly, or ant or vulture, here there were, at least a few thousand corpses, and none of the scavengers showed up. What was even more surprising was that despite this atmosphere of death, and the distress in the air, not a single creature of Grimm had made an appearance.   
“You may have not noticed,” Adam said, “But your aura has been chipping away all this while. It’s probably due to that substance.” The substance he was referring to was a sort of green moss-like one that now covered most of the corpses.   
“The Grimm from before most likely has something to with this, everything living, even our auras and the Grimm, if they count as being alive, avoid this place. We’ll rest for now, we can continue tomorrow.”   
Ethan was clearly hesitant, but he couldn’t deny the logic in his words. The boy had been in a type of frenzy, so even though he felt his steady exhaustion, he took no note of it, if the substance was eroding his aura, he didn’t want to imagine what would happen when he exhausted it. At the same time, the ‘moss’ kept growing as time passed, overnight, it would definitely spread a lot more. While Ethan contemplated this, he noticed that there was something wrong with Adam, the faunus’ body was quivering, and his face was pale.   
“This is nothing,” Adam responded, “I have a small cache in the tunnels, since they’re mostly intact, we can grab the supplies and leave… for now.” The last part was certainly added for Ethan’s benefit, and so he decided to accept it, helping Adam, who despite his state was able to move much better than initially. The two made their way down the tunnels, and into a small cavity that Nigel, who was certainly a part of the sea of corpses, had told him about. Immediately he opened the door, a figure burst out of the door, nearly throwing the two boys down. The figure that burst out was small, emaciated and certainly not human.   
Its body was covered in a wrinkly fold of flesh that gave it a likeness to prunes, its eyes were a dirty green, and its mouth was… covered in chocolate? Adam was genuinely surprised at this, and tried looking at his cache, although he was already certain that the creature before him had already helped itself to most of the supplies. As he looked at it more, he couldn’t help but feel that he had seen it before. Just as his memory struck him however, he blacked out.  
*  
“That went as expected,” said Tilling as he and his companions watched Sun walk away in the distance.  
“Not as though we can expect much from scum like him,” the girl with dog ears said as she spat on the ground, disgust clear from her aura.  
“Still,” said another individual, clearly older than all his present company, “You can’t expect him to have a different view, especially in Vale where the White Fang have contradicted their own goals with a great deal of their actions.”   
“That’s only because the generals weren’t here,” added the last one amongst them, “That human, Torchwick overstepped his bounds. I doubt we’ll have to worry about it after today though.”   
“Yeah,” Tilling inputted, “Either way, we were able to get that over with sooner than expected, let’s head for a café or something and have a good time. Haven’t had much time to see the city at all with all the raids and thefts.”   
“We should report back immediately,” the dog girl said in objection, unfortunately, all her companions ignored her as they made their way to the nearest café, forcing her to follow suit.   
*  
“Torchwick,” came Banesaw’s furious voice, “You have not been wise.” The sentence was punctuated by the man in question flying across the room of the warehouse they were in and into a few crates. As Banesaw approached the fallen figure, two people jumped in front of him, protecting the man. The red and white duo somehow eyed Banesaw lazily and sternly at the same time.  
“You don’t want to do that again,” said one of them, cocking her head to the side.   
“And you don’t want me to teach you why it’s disrespectful to interrupt a conversation between two grown-ups,” said Sheena, who had suddenly appeared between the two ladies, shocking them backwards towards Roman.   
“Who’d have thought that Junior’d lend you his favourite bodyguards?”   
“A lot is at stake,” Banesaw added, “And without Neopolitan by his side, Roman is vulnerable… more so than usual.”   
“That’s why it puzzles me that he’d do so many reckless things despite his weakness,” the general continued as he approached the trio before him. The White Fang soldiers immediately readied their weapons in response to the hostility, most of them were trained on Banesaw and Sheena, seeing as they were mostly new recruits who did not fully understand the dogma of the White Fang and were actually won over by the redhead fiend’s charisma and charm.   
“Humph,” the general scoffed condescendingly before letting out a roar that shook all the soldiers, some of them even dropped their weapons unconsciously. 

“Now calm down people,” Roman finally said, genuinely surprised by the strength behind the general’s roar, “We got off on the wrong foot, earlier, why don’t we kiss and make up?” To this, Banesaw leaned in towards Roman, as though actually taking his words literally. Instead of the scene that would have instantly created the Banewick ship, the general whispered into Roman’s ear: “Your semblance doesn’t work on me, so be careful that I not lose my temper.”   
“Duly noted,” Roman said sourly, his lips now constricted to a thin line.  
“What do you think we are?” Banesaw roared, as though daring any of the soldiers he was addressing to answer his question, “Do you think we’re just another cult? Another rebellious movement where you can all just come and make trouble and move on?”   
“The White Fang is more than that. Much more than that, if you aren’t disgusted by the way your own people are treated even in their own kingdom and homes, the way companies exploit them, the way that their voices are ignored. If your blood doesn’t boil when these people talk to you like an animal and treat you even worse, then walk away right now.”  
As if compelled, many of the White Fang members dropped their weapons and masks, and walked out of the warehouse, the only ones left were the few whose eyes were ignited, even behind their masks, when the general spoke, those that truly believed in the message that he spoke of.  
“Talk about thinning the herd,” Roman said with a scoff, not being able to hold his racist joke in. Nobody paid attention to him however as Banesaw was still speaking.   
“From today on,” he said, “The White Fang’s Vale operations will be a completely different organisation.” Cheers erupted from the warehouse, although it surprisingly didn’t draw any attention from anyone around.   
*  
Sometime after, the two generals walked into a private room, leaving behind the revelry of the newly indoctrinated terrorists. As they moved, Sheena suddenly collapsed, her fall thankfully arrested by her tall companion. “Thanks,” she said after spending a minute or two to compose herself, “This is getting harder and harder somehow.”  
“You do great,” Banesaw said gently, raising her back unto her feet.   
“I know,” she said, holding her hand out for a piece of chocolate that the bigger man obliged to giving her, “Know I said it already, but this was a lot easier the first time.”   
“You and I remember quite differently on that matter,” he said simply as the two continued walking.   
*  
Adam was unconscious, his mind moving through a haze between reality and dreams, in manner that made Inception look tame. He heard a loud sound, a chorus of some sort, he heard thousands of voices in what sounded like a cheer. In a few seconds, it was evident that the sounds he heard were not cheers, they were screams and wails and moans. Before him, stood a thousands of corpses, each staring at the redhead. Some asked questions, their sharp gazes peering into him to demand their answers. Some expressed their betrayal, fear and anger, their gazes enough to penetrate even aura. Some just were, their expressions were beyond his understanding. The gazes were all the members of Campis Inquinavi. They cursed at him, whispered to him, pleaded with him, their voices loud even though their lips remained sealed, their eyes shouting enough to shake the place.  
Despite the cacophony, Adam’s gaze was silent, he peered back at each and every one of them. His own gaze held nothing. No apology, no pity, no guilt, no justification, he may as well have been staring at a blank page. “You’re all dead,” his gaze finally said, acknowledging those before him, “So why are you bothering me?”  
“I must be dead too,” he reasoned, accepting this reality, and ignoring the rage that swelled in the crowd before him. Suddenly, a laugh broke out, it wasn’t the kind of laughter that helped the atmosphere at all, it wasn’t a warm guffaw that invited others to join in it, it was a crass chuckle that irritated and enraged everyone who heard it. It came from a phantasm that looked much older than it actually was, next to it, another two phantasms covered their faces in embarrassment of the one next to them. Despite this, he was able to lock gazes with the couple and he could hear them say: “Go.”   
Adam sat up suddenly, his eyes widening and his entire face covered in sweat. Before him, before he could gain his bearings, he fell onto the ground, although from where, he did not know. “Are you okay?” asked Ethan, shouting for some reason.  
Yeah, he said silently with a nod, before realizing that he could barely even hear his own thoughts. He turned around and saw a phenomenon that was too bizarre for the author, with his rudimentary writing skills, to describe. Although it was still nightfall, the entire sky was bathed in different glows of light. The source of the light was Campis Inquinavi, which was several kilometres behind them. “We blew up the mines,” Ethan shouted once more.  
“That way, even if I couldn’t find them, they can at least rest in peace. And look…” he added pointing towards the source of the light, “These lights are too bright for them to lose their way, and they make great fireworks.” Adam looked at Ethan admiringly; he was somehow able to rally despite the traumas the day had carried for him. How he managed to blow up the mines, gather the supplies and carry him this far was something he… genuinely couldn’t understand. How did he do all of those things? Adam was deeply suspicious of the on goings, and for the first time, he noticed that there was someone next to Ethan this whole time.   
It was the same creature that jumped out of Adam’s cache earlier, the same one, he noticed, that he had given chocolate to the previous night. Under the glow of the dust explosion, he could see it perfectly, every wrinkle on its dry skin. At first, it had looked somewhat scary, but now, with its dirty green eyes staring back at him, it simply looked disgusting. “What is that?” Adam asked tersely as he rose to his feet, not feeling any of the pain or resistance he had felt before his ‘nap’.   
“She’s a friend,” Ethan said defensively trying to shield ‘her’ from Adam with his body.   
“We’re going to have to struggle for survival,” Adam said as he stretched out for his blade, “We can’t exactly afford to have friends.”  
“She’s useful,” Ethan insisted, “I was only able to fix up your leg because of her.” That wound was something that he had never experienced before, every attempt by his aura to heal it was futile, and he got worse by the second. Yet, that 'girl' was able to heal it?  
“How?” Adam asked suspiciously.  
“Sh-” Ethan made to start explaining, but stopped when he saw the ‘girl’ pull on his clothes.   
“I-it’s a secret,” he said, much to Adam’s amusement, “But Sheena has to stay, I’m not going anywhere without her.”  
“Is that so?” Adam asked, his amusement very evident in his speech.   
“Either way, he said as he began tying up the supplies together, “All of you have to pull your own weight. I’m not going to baby any of you.”   
Ethan was surprised, he had expected that he’d have to convince him more, and feared that it would escalate into conflict.   
The three of them walked away from the myriad of reactions taking place behind them, the fire, steam, wind and every other type of dust was combusted into the huge explosion behind them. Somewhere in the midst of the explosion was Campis Inquinavi, somewhere there was the only home that most of them had known. Still, the three walked away quickly, preparing to find another.   
*  
'Get up, it’s lunchtime,” Emerald called, in one of her few lines in the fanfic.  
“How long have I been asleep for?” he asked, feeling as though he could use a lot more than he got.   
“Wouldn’t know,” she said as she walked out the door, “Come on, Neo and Mercury are already there.”  
It was strange, Adam thought to himself as he sat up groggily in his bed, it was strange that he had followed them that day. After all, they were kids and they’d only slow him down. Ethan knew the surrounding areas well, as he spent most of his days buried in books, and Sheena was apparently very good at healing. That was the reason he used that day, the last excuse he ever made. Because from then on, he never even asked why he went with them, he just did.   
*  
“Adam, you’re okay,” shouted Ruby as she jumped on to the bull Faunus, “We were all worried about you.”  
“Yeah,” Blake inputted, seeing that her teammate was drawing attention, “That fever really had us worried.” The Principal had asked all of them to explain Adam’s absence to be as a result of a fever since they couldn’t as well say that he was injured fighting terrorists.   
The remaining members of team WRBY and NVL also came and welcomed their class rep.   
“You should have seen Ruby,” Nora laughed, “She cleaned up the entire class, and ran errands and everything. Only time I’ve seen her that fast when it came to actual work.”  
Adam let out a small laugh, which revealed to him how awkward the atmosphere here was. The members of team WRBY looked like they were when Weiss first became leader, except several times worse. There was a clear, deep animus between Weiss and Blake, and all the other students close by we’re caught up in it.   
“Blake,” Adam said sternly, seeing that it was getting worse and worse, “Your bloodlust is showing.” The brunette kept on glaring at the Schnee heiress for a few seconds before composing herself, making the greater half of the negativity in the air dissolve. Weiss simply walked away after that, disgust evident in her gait as Yang chased after her.   
Things weren’t looking good for team WRBY.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for my lack of consistency. I'm jam-packed between work and side-jobs and all that. Not to mention that I've rewritten this chapter severally, though it still turned out terribly.   
> As usual, any advice you could give me to make my work a little less cringey would be appreciated.  
> Also, my thoughts and prayers to those living in Texas. God is with you.


End file.
